Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 1,197,606 Shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 67.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 573,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,197,606 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Labcorp were worth $143,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 37,197 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 440,224 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 207,962 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 289,029 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 5,903 shares of the business’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 value of $1,502,313.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 107,234 shares in the company, valued at $27,291,053. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on LH shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Labcorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $334.00 price objective on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Friday, May 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Labcorp from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Labcorp in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.00.

Labcorp Price Performance

LH stock opened at $265.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $262.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $265.62. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $241.81 and a 52-week high of $293.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.09 by $0.16. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The firm had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.84 earnings per share. The business’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. Equities research analysts forecast that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Labcorp Announces Dividend

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

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.