Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 85.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 326,983 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,900,181 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $73,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 5,362 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 2,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% during the 3rd 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. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 594,507 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $132,861,000 after buying an additional 8,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QSV Equity Investors LLC purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LH shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated 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. Barclays lifted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.75.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of LH stock opened at $234.52 on Wednesday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $247.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $229.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.57.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 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 Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of Laboratory Co. of America 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,910,209 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% 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.