E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 705 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 75.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,644 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LH. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after acquiring an additional 230,708 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,405,000 after acquiring an additional 167,137 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,779,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 22.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 577,189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $128,990,000 after purchasing an additional 105,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,512,000. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $235,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,989,670. The trade was a 7.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total transaction of $1,497,319.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,146,175.90. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,577,572 over the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.38.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE LH opened at $253.00 on Friday. 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 52 week low of $191.97 and a 52 week high of $258.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $243.68 and its 200 day moving average is $233.72. The company has a market cap of $21.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results 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, equities research analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 32.65%.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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