Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Upgraded at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $265.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $260.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE LH opened at $234.18 on Tuesday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1-year low of $191.97 and a 1-year high of $247.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $234.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.32. The company has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.52 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.71%.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,572 shares of company stock valued at $6,145,209 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LH. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 115.7% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,088 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265 shares in the last quarter. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at $955,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Laboratory Co. of America during the third quarter worth $2,316,000. Banyan Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 8.4% during the second quarter. Banyan Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,781 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 11.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 620,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $138,718,000 after acquiring an additional 65,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% 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.