North Dakota State Investment Board Buys Shares of 2,867 Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,867 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $719,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,850,631 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,471,326,000 after buying an additional 37,197 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,637,350 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $756,878,000 after buying an additional 440,224 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,204,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $554,728,000 after buying an additional 207,962 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,105,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $604,488,000 after buying an additional 289,029 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 726,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $208,431,000 after buying an additional 27,879 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Labcorp from $319.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Labcorp from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Labcorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.00.

Insider Transactions at Labcorp

In other news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 8,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.96, for a total transaction of $2,437,051.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 80,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,613,209.08. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.91, for a total value of $156,130.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $734,782.89. This represents a 17.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,656 shares of company stock valued at $4,524,961. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Labcorp Trading Down 0.7%

LH opened at $255.70 on Friday. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $239.75 and a 12 month high of $293.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $263.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.59.

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

Labcorp Announces Dividend

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

About Labcorp

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.