Laboratory Co. of America’s (LH) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Jefferies Financial Group

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $275.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 16.45% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on LH. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler increased 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 note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.75.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH stock opened at $236.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52 week low of $191.97 and a 52 week high of $247.99. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $229.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.57.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total transaction of $2,815,675.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 31,289 shares in the company, valued at $7,522,814.27. This represents a 27.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dwight Gary Gilliland sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.00, for a total value of $241,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,858,592. This represents a 11.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,572 shares of company stock worth $5,910,209 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LH. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $327,616,000 after acquiring an additional 924,881 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,949,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,771,000 after purchasing an additional 395,197 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $73,928,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,893,000 after buying an additional 263,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after purchasing an additional 230,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company 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.