Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 380,624 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 59.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,021,104 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 380,624 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $234,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,726,627 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,827,000 after acquiring an additional 25,469 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,964,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $437,561,000 after purchasing an additional 13,298 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,405,000 after purchasing an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,916,505 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $437,357,000 after purchasing an additional 51,045 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,822,964 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $418,042,000 after buying an additional 41,898 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $271.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.92.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.23, for a total value of $1,330,638.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,236,180.80. This trade represents a 51.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total transaction of $1,497,319.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,146,175.90. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,258 shares of company stock valued at $3,753,177 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Up 1.2 %

LH stock opened at $232.80 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $244.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $234.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week high of $258.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 5.73%. Analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.65%.

Laboratory Co. of America Profile

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