Empirical Finance LLC Increases Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 60,360 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after acquiring an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after buying an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $761,996,000 after purchasing an additional 524,683 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $115.03 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $97.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $199.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.39. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.