&Partners Acquires New Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

&Partners bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,350 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 313.2% during the first quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 88.4% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 50.3% in the first quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 4th quarter worth about $80,000. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total transaction of $2,770,506.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,647,501.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total value of $2,770,506.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,647,501.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $131,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,312,450. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

NYSE LH opened at $230.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.46, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $238.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.60.

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

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is presently 57.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Laboratory Co. of America 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).