Pacer Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 11.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 277,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 36,569 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Labcorp were worth $73,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Labcorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,850,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,471,326,000 after acquiring an additional 37,197 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Labcorp by 103.1% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,356,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,343,922,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,475 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,226,446 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $607,241,000 after purchasing an additional 22,170 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,137,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $534,023,000 after purchasing an additional 13,775 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Labcorp by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,105,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $604,488,000 after purchasing an additional 289,029 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LH. Truist Financial increased their price target on Labcorp from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $352.00 target price on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Labcorp from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Labcorp from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.27.

Insider Activity at Labcorp

In other Labcorp news, EVP Bryan T. Vaughn sold 234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.19, for a total value of $66,968.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,930,637.74. The trade was a 3.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.50, for a total transaction of $1,502,313.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 107,234 shares in the company, valued at $27,291,053. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 6,991 shares of company stock worth $1,796,696 in the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Labcorp Stock Performance

Shares of Labcorp stock opened at $309.47 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $274.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.16. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $244.52 and a 52 week high of $316.11. The company has a market capitalization of $25.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.87.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. As a group, analysts expect that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Labcorp Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Labcorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.82%.

Labcorp Company Profile

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.