Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (LH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.72 on March 12th

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th.

Laboratory Co. of America has a dividend payout ratio of 16.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $17.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $251.44 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average is $239.37 and its 200 day moving average is $232.01. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $258.59.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total transaction of $1,497,319.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 86,445 shares in the company, valued at $21,146,175.90. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total transaction of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,522,814.27. This represents a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,832 shares of company stock worth $4,788,995 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $271.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.31.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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