Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Price Target Lowered to $213.00 at Barclays

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Barclays from $234.00 to $213.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 7.07% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on LH. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Argus raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.38.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

NYSE LH traded up $0.58 on Friday, hitting $198.93. The stock had a trading volume of 102,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 747,793. Laboratory Co. of America has a one year low of $174.20 and a one year high of $234.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $212.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.69.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.46 by $0.22. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.82 EPS. Laboratory Co. of America’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total value of $49,588.15. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,998.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total value of $49,588.15. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,998.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,695,872.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,305 shares of company stock worth $11,761,059. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,487,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $500,033,000 after buying an additional 424,684 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $446,189,000 after buying an additional 1,123,755 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,212,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $444,821,000 after buying an additional 483,878 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,613,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $352,563,000 after buying an additional 597,571 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 644.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,280,884 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $257,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,776 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).