B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Buys New Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LH. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth $27,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter worth about $32,000. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial upped 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 note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH stock opened at $239.67 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.36, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $226.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.03.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,289,260.27. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.