Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Buys 69 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LH. FMR LLC increased its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after buying an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,405,000 after acquiring an additional 167,137 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 22.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 577,189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $128,990,000 after acquiring an additional 105,443 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 37.8% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 284,097 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $63,490,000 after purchasing an additional 77,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,052,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,321,000 after purchasing an additional 68,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total value of $1,497,319.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,146,175.90. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dwight Gary Gilliland sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.00, for a total transaction of $241,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,712 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,592. This represents a 11.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,832 shares of company stock worth $4,788,995 in the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH opened at $249.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $258.59.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 15.29%. Research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LH shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.31.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.