Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Stake Increased by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 278.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 352 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $81,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LH. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $354,528,000 after acquiring an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,405,000 after acquiring an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 22.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 577,189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $128,990,000 after acquiring an additional 105,443 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,052,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,321,000 after acquiring an additional 68,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 11.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 620,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $138,718,000 after acquiring an additional 65,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.38.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 1.0 %

LH stock opened at $254.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $258.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $242.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $233.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 15.29%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.40, for a total transaction of $56,590.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,544 shares in the company, valued at $1,137,817.60. This trade represents a 4.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.23, for a total transaction of $1,330,638.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,236,180.80. This represents a 51.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,000 shares of company stock worth $3,449,757. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.