Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,194 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 46 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $1,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,726,627 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $832,827,000 after buying an additional 25,469 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,978,686 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,197,000 after acquiring an additional 29,046 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,964,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $437,561,000 after acquiring an additional 13,298 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,405,000 after acquiring an additional 167,137 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,916,505 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $437,357,000 after acquiring an additional 51,045 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $271.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $293.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.75.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH stock opened at $251.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $241.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.64. The stock has a market cap of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $258.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 5.73%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 32.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total transaction of $1,497,319.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 86,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,146,175.90. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 1,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.30, for a total value of $330,208.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,572.30. The trade was a 37.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,372 shares of company stock valued at $5,175,793. Corporate insiders own 0.85% 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.