Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $330.00.

LH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $355.00 target price on Labcorp in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Labcorp from $300.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Labcorp from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Labcorp from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Labcorp Trading Down 0.2%

Labcorp stock opened at $322.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.87. Labcorp has a 1 year low of $244.52 and a 1 year high of $329.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $288.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $275.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.78 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Labcorp had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 6.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.35 EPS. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.100-18.550 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Labcorp will post 18.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Labcorp’s payout ratio is presently 23.82%.

Insider Activity at Labcorp

In other news, EVP Amy B. Summy sold 924 shares of Labcorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.74, for a total transaction of $283,427.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,683.44. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathryn W. Kyle sold 92 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.19, for a total value of $26,329.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,904 shares in the company, valued at $1,117,285.76. The trade was a 2.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,681 shares of company stock worth $3,027,677. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Labcorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Labcorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 495,535 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $124,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,706 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Labcorp by 106.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 57,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,470,000 after purchasing an additional 29,899 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Labcorp by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,137,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $534,023,000 after buying an additional 13,775 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Labcorp by 61.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,011,000 after buying an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Labcorp by 103.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,356,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,343,922,000 after buying an additional 2,719,475 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% 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.