Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Stock Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH – Get Rating) by 7.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 117,926 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,276 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $31,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Consolidated Planning Corp purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Arrow Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 100 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 160 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.02% of the company’s stock.

In other news, EVP Mark S. Schroeder sold 2,356 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.11, for a total value of $652,871.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director R Sanders Williams sold 572 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.98, for a total value of $156,144.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $294.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $360.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $350.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, April 29th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $344.00 to $312.00 in a research report on Monday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.72.

Shares of LH opened at $233.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12 month low of $212.40 and a 12 month high of $317.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $245.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.54. The firm has a market cap of $21.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.04.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The medical research company reported $6.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.88 by $0.23. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 23.84% and a net margin of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.79 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 19.68 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 19th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 18th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.22%.

About Laboratory Co. of America (Get Rating)

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as an independent clinical laboratory company worldwide. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Labcorp Drug Development (DD). It offers various tests, such as blood chemistry analyses, urinalyses, blood cell counts, thyroid tests, Pap tests, hemoglobin A1C and vitamin D products, prostate-specific antigens, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C tests, microbiology cultures and procedures, and alcohol and other substance-abuse tests.

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