Bridgewater Associates LP Lowers Stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,878 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 57,632 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $33,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thematics Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 24,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter worth about $129,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the third quarter worth about $596,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LH. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 1.1 %

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $238.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.61. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $247.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.71%.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total value of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,289,260.27. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.42, for a total value of $239,420.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $639,251.40. The trade was a 27.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,861 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,533. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Profile

Labcorp Holdings Inc provides laboratory services. It operates through two segments, Diagnostics Laboratories and Biopharma Laboratory Services. The company offers various tests, such as blood chemistry analyses, urinalyses, blood cell counts, thyroid, PAP, hemoglobin A1C and vitamin D, prostate-specific antigens, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C, microbiology cultures and procedures, and alcohol and other substance-abuse tests.