Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH – Free Report) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 476,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,460,000. Labcorp comprises 1.6% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.
Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in Labcorp during the second quarter worth $5,847,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in shares of Labcorp in the second quarter valued at about $665,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new stake in shares of Labcorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $168,222,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Labcorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $678,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Labcorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $142,125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts recently commented on LH shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Labcorp from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Labcorp from $300.00 to $309.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Labcorp from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $355.00 price target on Labcorp in a report on Monday, August 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $330.00.
Labcorp Stock Up 2.7%
Shares of NYSE LH opened at $330.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $289.75 and its 200 day moving average is $275.91. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $244.52 and a 52 week high of $331.20. 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 – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.78 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.99% and a return on equity of 16.74%. Labcorp’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.35 earnings per share. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.100-18.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Labcorp Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th 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 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Labcorp’s dividend payout ratio is 23.82%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Labcorp
In other Labcorp news, EVP Bryan T. Vaughn sold 234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.19, for a total transaction of $66,968.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,746 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,637.74. This represents a 3.35% 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. 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. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 4,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.37, for a total value of $1,495,807.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,565 shares in the company, valued at $32,858,749.05. This trade represents a 4.35% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 9,681 shares of company stock worth $3,027,677 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.
About Labcorp
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.
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