Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 96 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,352 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% in the 2nd 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 period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 1,284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Foresight Global Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,114,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 380,117 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $77,358,000 after purchasing an additional 49,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of LH opened at $222.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.06. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $238.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $222.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.54.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 15.39%. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at $3,647,501.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at $3,647,501.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 15,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.99, for a total transaction of $3,359,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,423.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LH. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of 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 shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. Finally, Barclays raised 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 research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $251.27.

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).