Labcorp (NYSE:LH) Given New $306.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has raised Labcorp's price target from $283.00 to $306.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.43% from the stock's current price and maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• Labcorp recently reported quarterly earnings of $4.35 per share, exceeding estimates of $4.14, with quarterly revenue up 9.6% year-over-year.
• A notable institutional investment includes Norges Bank acquiring a new stake in Labcorp valued at approximately $239.81 million during the fourth quarter.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $283.00 to $306.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the medical research company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.43% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Labcorp from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. HSBC lowered shares of Labcorp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Labcorp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Labcorp from $274.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Labcorp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $280.54.

Labcorp Stock Up 6.7%

Shares of LH opened at $267.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.82. Labcorp has a 12 month low of $209.35 and a 12 month high of $283.47. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $254.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.33. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.14 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.49 billion. Labcorp had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 5.55%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.94 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Labcorp will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Labcorp news, CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 829 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.26, for a total value of $200,833.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $497,602.04. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,105 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.73, for a total transaction of $1,518,496.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,614,818.26. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,834 shares of company stock valued at $2,928,714 over the last 90 days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Labcorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $239,811,000. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its position in Labcorp by 150.9% during the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,595,957 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $365,985,000 after acquiring an additional 959,981 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Labcorp by 37,334.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 809,702 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $188,450,000 after purchasing an additional 807,539 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Labcorp by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,021,104 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $234,160,000 after purchasing an additional 380,624 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Labcorp by 28.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,421,112 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $330,750,000 after purchasing an additional 318,865 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company's stock.

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.

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