Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,372,735 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 220,777 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.19% of Abbott Laboratories worth $384,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after buying an additional 6,897 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,634,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 73,651 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,371,000 after acquiring an additional 18,131 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 40.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,483 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 14,215 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.3 %

ABT traded up $1.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.39. The company had a trading volume of 6,742,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,732,088. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $91.64 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $207.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.97 and a 200-day moving average of $108.52.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

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.