Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Norges Bank bought a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,045,749 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,811,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.25% of Laboratory Co. of America as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LH. Amundi increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 344.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,123,409 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $263,161,000 after purchasing an additional 870,903 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter worth $123,415,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after buying an additional 230,708 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,405,000 after acquiring an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth $33,779,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total value of $1,497,319.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,146,175.90. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.23, for a total value of $1,330,638.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,236,180.80. This represents a 51.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,500 shares of company stock worth $3,577,572 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on LH. Citigroup upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $271.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $229.75 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $258.59.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 5.73%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 32.65%.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.