Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van Sells 2,000 Shares

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $454,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,670 shares in the company, valued at $833,273.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:LH opened at $230.89 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $214.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.68. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $238.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,949,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,771,000 after buying an additional 395,197 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,613,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $352,563,000 after buying an additional 597,571 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,616,000 after buying an additional 924,881 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,519,000 after buying an additional 33,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter valued at $291,045,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $213.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.42.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).