Robert W. Baird Cuts Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Price Target to $244.00

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) had its price objective dropped by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $255.00 to $244.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price indicates a potential upside of 23.01% from the stock’s previous close.

LH has been the subject of several other reports. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 target price for the company. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.94.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE LH opened at $198.35 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52-week low of $174.20 and a 52-week high of $234.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $212.06 and a 200-day moving average of $214.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.46 by $0.22. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total transaction of $49,588.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares in the company, valued at $842,998.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total transaction of $49,588.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares in the company, valued at $842,998.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,695,872.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,305 shares of company stock worth $11,761,059 in the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth $291,045,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $446,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,755 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 644.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,280,884 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $257,522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108,776 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 3,836.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 806,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $162,243,000 after acquiring an additional 786,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,212,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $444,821,000 after acquiring an additional 483,878 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).