Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Stock Position in Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,425 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Labcorp were worth $8,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Labcorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 495,535 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $124,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,706 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Labcorp by 106.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 57,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,470,000 after purchasing an additional 29,899 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Labcorp by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,137,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $534,023,000 after acquiring an additional 13,775 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Labcorp by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,011,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Labcorp by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,356,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,343,922,000 after buying an additional 2,719,475 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Labcorp news, EVP Bryan T. Vaughn sold 234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.19, for a total transaction of $66,968.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,746 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,637.74. This trade represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 5,903 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.50, for a total transaction of $1,502,313.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 107,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,291,053. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 6,991 shares of company stock valued at $1,796,696 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Labcorp Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:LH opened at $309.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $244.52 and a fifty-two week high of $316.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.89.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.78 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Labcorp had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 6.99%.Labcorp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.35 earnings per share. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.100-18.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Labcorp’s dividend payout ratio is 25.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LH shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Labcorp from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Labcorp from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $352.00 price target on Labcorp in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Labcorp in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Labcorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.27.

Labcorp News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Labcorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Labcorp exceeded expectations in the second quarter, reporting adjusted EPS of $4.99 versus the $4.78 analyst consensus and revenue of $3.73 billion versus estimates of $3.71 billion. Revenue increased 5.8% year over year, supported by steady diagnostic-testing demand and growth in drug-development services. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $18.10-$18.55, above the roughly $17.99-$18.00 consensus, while forecasting revenue of approximately $14.71 billion-$14.83 billion. Diagnostics Laboratories revenue rose 5.5%, and Biopharma Laboratory Services revenue increased 6.5%. Labcorp second-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Labcorp expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1 billion, repurchased $353.8 million of stock during the quarter and paid $58.7 million in dividends. Truist Financial also raised its price target from $320 to $350 and assigned a “buy” rating, implying further upside from recent levels. Benzinga reference
• Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted continued investment in oncology, consumer health and technology initiatives. The earnings call transcripts provide additional detail on demand trends, margins and the updated outlook. Labcorp Q2 earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the earnings and revenue beats, LH shares fell in premarket trading and remain lower in active trading. The reaction indicates that investors may have viewed the results and raised outlook as insufficient relative to elevated expectations and the stock’s recent rally toward its 52-week high. Zacks market reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider-trading data shows company insiders made multiple sales and no purchases over the past six months, a potential sentiment headwind, although the transactions do not necessarily reflect management’s outlook. Quiver Quantitative report

About Labcorp

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, commonly known as Labcorp (NYSE: LH), is a global life sciences company that provides comprehensive clinical laboratory and drug development services. The company operates a broad network of laboratories, patient service centers and specialty testing sites to deliver diagnostic information and testing solutions that support patient care, clinical decision-making and population health initiatives.

Labcorp’s core businesses encompass clinical laboratory testing and pharmaceutical development services.