Labcorp (NYSE:LH) Share Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $284.90 and traded as high as $309.95. Labcorp shares last traded at $308.56, with a volume of 611,084 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LH. Robert W. Baird set a $352.00 target price on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Labcorp from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Labcorp from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Labcorp from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Labcorp from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.73.

Labcorp Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.22.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.78 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.99% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.35 earnings per share. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.100-18.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Labcorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Labcorp’s dividend payout ratio is 23.82%.

Insider Transactions at Labcorp

In other news, CEO Adam Schechter sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.37, for a total value of $1,495,807.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,565 shares in the company, valued at $32,858,749.05. The trade was a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Summy sold 924 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.74, for a total value of $283,427.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,683.44. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $2,733,295 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Labcorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Labcorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Labcorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 786.7% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Labcorp in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Labcorp by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Labcorp

Labcorp (NYSE:LH), formally Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, is a global life sciences and laboratory services company headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina. The company provides diagnostic testing, drug development services and technology-enabled laboratory solutions to healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and consumers.

Its diagnostics business offers routine and specialty laboratory testing, including testing related to oncology, women’s health, infectious diseases, genetics and genomics.