Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Receives $247.42 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $247.42.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LH. UBS Group raised their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $213.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $261.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LH opened at $230.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.46, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $214.04 and a 200-day moving average of $210.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Laboratory Co. of America 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,312,450. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 586 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,312,450. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 15,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,647,501.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 313.2% in the first quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 219 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).