Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Buys 57,049 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 443,049 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,049 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $50,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth about $2,506,000. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 17.5% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 7,702 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $322,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 273.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 470,298 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $53,454,000 after buying an additional 344,306 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Mizuho upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ABT opened at $118.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $206.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $115.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.19.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

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.