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

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 16.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.96 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 18.0%.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

NYSE:LH opened at $234.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. Laboratory Co. of America has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $247.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $234.49 and a 200-day moving average of $224.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total value of $877,277.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,318 shares in the company, valued at $1,031,613.38. This trade represents a 45.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 sale, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,572 shares of company stock valued at $6,145,209. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company 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.