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

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 16.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $17.54 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 16.4%.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Laboratory Co. of America stock traded down $3.80 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $224.24. 200,654 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 637,301. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $239.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.95. Laboratory Co. of America has a one year low of $191.97 and a one year high of $258.59.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 15.29%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 86,445 shares in the company, valued at $21,146,175.90. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.23, for a total value of $1,330,638.97. Following the completion of 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,258 shares of company stock valued at $3,518,177. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,321 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $991,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $268.77.

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.