Bank of America Corp DE Cuts Stake in Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Key Points

• Bank of America reduced its Labcorp stake by 1.6% in the first quarter, selling 11,524 shares and retaining 724,811 shares valued at approximately $193.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 95.94% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with nine Buy ratings and three Holds. Labcorp has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $326.82, above its reported share price of $312.69.
• Labcorp exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $4.99 and revenue of $3.73 billion, while revenue rose 5.8% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, representing a 0.9% yield.

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its holdings in shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 724,811 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 11,524 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.88% of Labcorp worth $193,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LH. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Labcorp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 495,535 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $124,320,000 after buying an additional 10,706 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Labcorp by 106.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 57,981 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $15,470,000 after acquiring an additional 29,899 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Labcorp by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,137,010 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $534,023,000 after acquiring an additional 13,775 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 61.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,974 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,011,000 after acquiring an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 103.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,356,825 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,343,922,000 after acquiring an additional 2,719,475 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LH. Robert W. Baird set a $352.00 price target on shares of Labcorp in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Labcorp from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Labcorp from $300.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Labcorp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Labcorp from $308.00 to $338.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Labcorp presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $326.82.

Labcorp Price Performance

Labcorp stock opened at $312.69 on Wednesday. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $244.52 and a 12-month high of $316.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $276.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.87.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $4.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.78 by $0.21. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.99% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.35 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.100-18.550 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.35 EPS for the current year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid 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 (DPR) is currently 23.82%.

Insider Activity 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 value of $66,968.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,746 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,930,637.74. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 5,903 shares of Labcorp stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.50, for a total value of $1,502,313.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 107,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,291,053. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 6,991 shares of company stock worth $1,796,696 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Labcorp 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.

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