Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Receives $270.62 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $270.62.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LH shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $253.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $293.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $276.00 target price for the company.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of LH opened at $242.69 on Monday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1-year low of $191.97 and a 1-year high of $258.59. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $234.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.19.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The medical research company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.11. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 15.29%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Amy B. Summy sold 758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.67, for a total value of $175,605.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,228,314.34. This represents a 12.51% 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, CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.26, for a total transaction of $200,833.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,054 shares in the company, valued at $497,602.04. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,745 shares of company stock worth $4,136,482. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,025 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 15,186 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,483,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 920 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% 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.