Brighton Jones LLC Acquires Shares of 4,321 Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 4,321 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,726,627 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,827,000 after buying an additional 25,469 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.5% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,978,686 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,197,000 after acquiring an additional 29,046 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,964,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $437,561,000 after purchasing an additional 13,298 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,405,000 after purchasing an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,893,000 after purchasing an additional 263,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 target price (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $235,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares in the company, valued at $2,989,670. This trade represents a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,572 shares of company stock worth $5,915,209 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH opened at $246.29 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.97. 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 current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.51 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.