Ieq Capital LLC Buys 456 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $3,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 83.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,261 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 1,944 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $987,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 85,648 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,430,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 13.0% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 6,282 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $261.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $278.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.27.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of LH opened at $222.22 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $222.74 and its 200-day moving average is $211.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.71, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.06. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week high of $238.46.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.67 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is 57.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total value of $2,770,506.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,647,501.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.99, for a total value of $3,359,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,289 shares in the company, valued at $7,008,423.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306 in the last 90 days. Company 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).