Czech National Bank Raises Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Czech National Bank raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,938 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $3,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LH. Paralel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% in the third quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 8,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 7.0% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 9,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 753,113 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $151,413,000 after acquiring an additional 109,128 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 24.0% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 83,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $16,838,000 after acquiring an additional 16,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 8.1% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,240,000 after acquiring an additional 3,057 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LH shares. SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.86.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE LH opened at $205.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 41.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $201.83 and a 200 day moving average of $213.36. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $234.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 3,553 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.74, for a total value of $770,077.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655,243.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 3,553 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.74, for a total value of $770,077.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655,243.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.83, for a total transaction of $421,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,188,448.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,469 shares of company stock valued at $3,959,058. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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).