Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 9.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,361 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,006 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $2,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LH. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 99.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,012,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,433 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 47,384 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the period. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LH. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. HSBC upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Five investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.4 %

LH opened at $242.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $20.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.84, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a one year low of $191.97 and a one year high of $247.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $226.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.78.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total value of $877,277.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,031,613.38. The trade was a 45.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares in the company, 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 sold 11,861 shares of company stock worth $2,853,533 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.