Greenleaf Trust Boosts Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 117.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,023 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 25.4% during the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,949,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,771,000 after purchasing an additional 395,197 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,893,000 after purchasing an additional 263,105 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $327,616,000 after purchasing an additional 924,881 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,519,000 after purchasing an additional 33,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 26.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 928,250 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $188,908,000 after purchasing an additional 196,119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at $3,647,501.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $454,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,670 shares in the company, valued at $833,273.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $3,647,501.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LH. Piper Sandler began coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $235.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $278.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Four research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $251.85.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $230.07 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a one year low of $191.97 and a one year high of $239.50. 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 $19.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.14.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.55%.

Laboratory Co. of America 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.