Laboratory Co. of America Holdings to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.72 (NYSE:LH)

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 16.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.0%.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of LH traded down $0.92 on Wednesday, hitting $234.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 439,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,589. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $234.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.18. Laboratory Co. of America has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week high of $247.99. The company has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.30, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

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

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,522,814.27. This trade represents a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,572 shares of company stock worth $6,145,209. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.54.

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.