B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Athena Investment Management increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LH. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. HSBC upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price objective (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.62.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 2.0 %

LH opened at $226.31 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $231.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.10. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52 week low of $191.97 and a 52 week high of $247.99. The company has a market cap of $18.93 billion, a PE ratio of 43.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total value of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,522,814.27. This trade represents a 27.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,910,209 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings Inc provides laboratory services. It operates through two segments, Diagnostics Laboratories and Biopharma Laboratory Services. The company offers various tests, such as blood chemistry analyses, urinalyses, blood cell counts, thyroid, PAP, hemoglobin A1C and vitamin D, prostate-specific antigens, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C, microbiology cultures and procedures, and alcohol and other substance-abuse tests.