Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 988,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,006,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LH. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Labcorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $991,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in Labcorp by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,427 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Labcorp by 52.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 353,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $82,353,000 after buying an additional 121,304 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Labcorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,873,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Labcorp by 83.2% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 86,046 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $22,588,000 after buying an additional 39,087 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Labcorp Stock Performance

NYSE LH opened at $257.27 on Wednesday. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $241.81 and a 52-week high of $293.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $263.08 and a 200-day moving average of $265.78.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by $0.16. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The company had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-18.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 17.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Labcorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Labcorp’s payout ratio is currently 25.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Labcorp from $319.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $334.00 price target on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $308.00.

Insider Activity

In other Labcorp news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 5,903 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.50, for a total value of $1,502,313.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 107,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,291,053. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Labcorp Company Profile

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, commonly known as Labcorp (NYSE: LH), is a global life sciences company that provides comprehensive clinical laboratory and drug development services. The company operates a broad network of laboratories, patient service centers and specialty testing sites to deliver diagnostic information and testing solutions that support patient care, clinical decision-making and population health initiatives.

Labcorp’s core businesses encompass clinical laboratory testing and pharmaceutical development services.