Morningstar Investment Services LLC Decreases Position in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH)

Morningstar Investment Services LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH - Free Report) by 47.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,775 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,628 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings in Labcorp were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Labcorp by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 62,546 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $14,343,000 after acquiring an additional 24,357 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Labcorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,693,000. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Labcorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $991,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Labcorp by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 588 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrust Bank NA raised its stake in shares of Labcorp by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 3,177 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on LH shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Labcorp from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Labcorp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $280.00 price target (up previously from $260.00) on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. HSBC downgraded Labcorp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Labcorp from $274.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 829 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.26, for a total value of $200,833.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,054 shares in the company, valued at $497,602.04. This represents a 28.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $132,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,223,990. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,834 shares of company stock valued at $2,928,714 over the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Labcorp Stock Performance

LH stock traded up $8.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $251.73. 548,845 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 652,779. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.98 and a twelve month high of $265.72. The company has a market capitalization of $21.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The medical research company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Labcorp had a net margin of 5.55% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The firm's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Labcorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Labcorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.29%.

Labcorp Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.