Cetera Investment Advisers Has $2.90 Million Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Cetera Investment Advisers decreased its stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 612 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $2,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LH. Insight Inv LLC raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% in the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Athena Investment Management boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% in the second quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Unison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.5% during the first quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 11,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.8% in the first quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 5.1% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LH. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $278.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial raised 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $213.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.00.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

NYSE:LH opened at $216.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.99. 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 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.16. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total transaction of $2,770,506.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,647,501.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 586 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,312,450. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,647,501.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,679 shares of company stock valued at $6,716,306. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.