International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 25,684 Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 25,684 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,838,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,859,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,863,118,000 after purchasing an additional 106,063 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 20.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,487,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $500,033,000 after acquiring an additional 424,684 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $446,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,755 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,212,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $444,821,000 after acquiring an additional 483,878 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843,051 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $421,878,000 after acquiring an additional 26,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on LH. Argus upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 25th. SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Friday, February 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a 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 price target of $243.50.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $203.39 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $215.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.79. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52 week low of $174.20 and a 52 week high of $234.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.01.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.01. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 24th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,695,872.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,695,872.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,048 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total transaction of $1,102,735.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,100,114.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,305 shares of company stock valued at $11,761,059 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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).