3,330 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Acquired by Morse Asset Management Inc

Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,330 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.2% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 12,881 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,651,000. City Holding Co. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the second quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 42,913 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,459,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accel Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $274,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $115.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $201.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $116.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.