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 Thursday, October 10th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th.

Laboratory Co. of America has a dividend payout ratio of 18.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.92 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 18.1%.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH opened at $239.67 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $191.97 and a one year high of $247.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.36, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $226.12 and a 200 day moving average of $217.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total value of $1,506,835.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at $21,289,260.27. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on LH shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. HSBC raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.92.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.