Bank of Montreal Can Raises Stock Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 149,191 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 4,439 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.18% of Laboratory Co. of America worth $33,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,488 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $25,012,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 115.7% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,088 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $473,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 187,286 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $40,259,000 after acquiring an additional 22,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 31,435 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,397,000 after acquiring an additional 8,218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total value of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at $21,289,260.27. This trade represents 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 the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,861 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,533 over the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LH traded down $0.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $241.16. 293,494 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 668,682. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.17 billion, a PE ratio of 46.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $227.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.95. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $247.99. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America's payout ratio is 55.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America 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.