National Pension Service Raises Stake in Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 170,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,251 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Labcorp were worth $42,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Labcorp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,850,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,471,326,000 after buying an additional 37,197 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Labcorp by 20.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,637,350 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $756,878,000 after buying an additional 440,224 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Labcorp by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,204,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $554,728,000 after buying an additional 207,962 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Labcorp by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,137,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $534,023,000 after buying an additional 13,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Labcorp by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,105,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $604,488,000 after buying an additional 289,029 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Labcorp news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 5,903 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.50, for a total transaction of $1,502,313.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 107,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,291,053. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Labcorp from $319.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $334.00 target price on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Labcorp from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Labcorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.00.

Labcorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of LH stock opened at $260.21 on Monday. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $241.81 and a 12 month high of $293.72. The stock has a market cap of $21.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $263.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.87.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by $0.16. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The business had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Labcorp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-18.350 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 17.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Labcorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.51%.

Labcorp Company 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.