ING Groep NV Trims Stock Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

ING Groep NV lessened its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LH. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN purchased a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the first quarter worth $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter valued at $37,000. 95.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total transaction of $454,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,273.50. The trade was a 35.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,190,936 in the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

NYSE LH opened at $235.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. 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 market cap of $19.67 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.63.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.71%.

Laboratory Co. of America Company 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.