Laboratory Co. of America Holdings Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.72 (NYSE:LH)

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%.

Laboratory Co. of America has a dividend payout ratio of 16.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.96 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 18.0%.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH opened at $234.18 on Thursday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $247.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.25. The company has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,572 shares of company stock worth $6,145,209 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Laboratory Co. of America Company 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.