Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Shares Sold by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Sheets Smith Wealth Management cut its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,536 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LH. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 354 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.9% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,844 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LH shares. HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.54.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total value of $2,815,675.73. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,522,814.27. This trade represents a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total transaction of $235,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,989,670. This trade represents a 7.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,572 shares of company stock worth $5,915,209. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE LH opened at $242.47 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $234.69 and a 200-day moving average of $226.44. 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 Holdings has a 12 month low of $191.97 and a 12 month high of $247.99. The company has a market cap of $20.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.06.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.71%.

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.