Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $278.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $249.00 to $234.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.85.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock traded down $1.45 during trading on Thursday, reaching $215.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 345,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 660,255. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $222.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.00. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1-year low of $191.97 and a 1-year high of $238.46. The company has a market cap of $18.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total transaction of $2,770,506.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,647,501.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $454,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,273.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total transaction of $2,770,506.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,647,501.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,679 shares of company stock worth $6,716,306 over the last 90 days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $265,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,846 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $142,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 14,938 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,263,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.