First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 58 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,773 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LH. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.5% during the third 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 last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $416,893,000 after purchasing an additional 263,105 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,616,000 after buying an additional 924,881 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,519,000 after acquiring an additional 33,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 26.8% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 928,250 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $188,908,000 after purchasing an additional 196,119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $240.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.05. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12 month low of $191.97 and a 12 month high of $247.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $225.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LH. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of 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, HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.92.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Profile

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.