Bank of America Boosts Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Price Target to $271.00

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Bank of America from $262.00 to $271.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 16.44% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 price target (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.67.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $232.73. 59,258 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 659,492. Laboratory Co. of America has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $247.99. 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 company has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a PE ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $230.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.97.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total value of $877,277.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,613.38. This represents a 45.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,910,209 in the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LH. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% during the second 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 period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $396,771,000 after buying an additional 395,197 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth $73,928,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $416,893,000 after acquiring an additional 263,105 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after acquiring an additional 230,708 shares in the last quarter. 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.