Czech National Bank Acquires 21,630 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 376,065 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 21,630 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $42,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.4% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 19,922 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 118,828 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $12,347,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 23,702 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Williams Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $442,000. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,961,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE ABT opened at $112.34 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $115.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.73%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.