Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 1,043 Shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,331 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Labcorp were worth $9,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LH. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Labcorp by 39.1% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,220,056 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $516,696,000 after buying an additional 624,099 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Labcorp by 28.2% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,829,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $476,995,000 after acquiring an additional 401,808 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Labcorp by 28.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,421,112 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $330,750,000 after purchasing an additional 318,865 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in shares of Labcorp by 55.9% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 781,211 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $181,819,000 after purchasing an additional 280,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 24.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,271,590 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $295,950,000 after purchasing an additional 250,486 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 5,745 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.75, for a total transaction of $1,509,498.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,010,068.50. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Richelle P. Parham sold 7,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.28, for a total value of $1,782,248.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,817.32. This trade represents a 73.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Labcorp Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $268.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.32. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $209.38 and a 1 year high of $293.72. The company has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $271.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $265.00.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The medical research company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.13 by $0.05. Labcorp had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.21%.The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 EPS. Labcorp’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Labcorp has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.150-16.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 26th. Labcorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial set a $320.00 price target on Labcorp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Labcorp from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Labcorp from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Labcorp from $291.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $304.00 price objective on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.07.

About Labcorp

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.