Labcorp (NYSE:LH) Raised to “Buy” at HSBC

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) was upgraded by analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $410.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock. HSBC‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.75% from the stock’s previous close.

LH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Labcorp from $380.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $388.00 price objective on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Labcorp from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Labcorp from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $355.00 target price on shares of Labcorp in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.08.

Labcorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LH traded up $3.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $366.90. The company had a trading volume of 610,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 761,004. Labcorp has a 52 week low of $244.52 and a 52 week high of $373.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $325.66 and its 200 day moving average is $290.01. The company has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The medical research company reported $4.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Labcorp had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 6.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.18 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Labcorp will post 18.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 4,669 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.37, for a total value of $1,495,807.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,858,749.05. This represents a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.02, for a total transaction of $954,060.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,087,165.26. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,053 shares of company stock worth $2,947,495. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 687 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in Labcorp by 13.8% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its position in Labcorp by 2.4% during the third quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Labcorp by 2.1% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Labcorp by 4.5% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

About Labcorp

Labcorp (NYSE: LH), formally Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, is a global life sciences company that provides diagnostic testing and services to patients, physicians, hospitals, employers and other health care organizations. Its offerings include routine and specialty laboratory tests, anatomic pathology and genetic testing.

The company also supports pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with laboratory services for drug development and clinical trials, including testing and analysis used in research and clinical studies.

Labcorp was formed in 1995 through the combination of National Health Laboratories and Roche Biomedical Laboratories.