Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Shares Sold by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 7.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LH. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% in the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management increased its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% in the second quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LH. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.62.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,289,260.27. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,910,209 over the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $226.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $231.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.10. The company has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.05. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $247.99.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.71%.

Laboratory Co. of America Profile

Labcorp Holdings Inc provides laboratory services. It operates through two segments, Diagnostics Laboratories and Biopharma Laboratory Services. The company offers various tests, such as blood chemistry analyses, urinalyses, blood cell counts, thyroid, PAP, hemoglobin A1C and vitamin D, prostate-specific antigens, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C, microbiology cultures and procedures, and alcohol and other substance-abuse tests.