Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.16 EPS

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. Laboratory Co. of America’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America updated its FY24 guidance to $14.30-14.90 EPS.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

LH stock traded up $2.61 on Friday, reaching $236.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,194,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 600,207. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52 week low of $191.97 and a 52 week high of $238.46. The company has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $205.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $210.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $213.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.83, for a total value of $421,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,637 shares in the company, valued at $1,188,448.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).