Wedmont Private Capital Buys Shares of 876 Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 876 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 312.5% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 132 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 172.6% during the 3rd quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 169 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LH shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upped their target price on 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total value of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,522,814.27. The trade was a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,572 shares of company stock worth $6,145,209. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.1 %

LH stock opened at $238.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.60. 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 capitalization of $19.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.06.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is presently 55.71%.

Laboratory Co. of America Profile

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.