Accredited Investors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Accredited Investors Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,788 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the quarter. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. River Street Advisors LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% during the third quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,282 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,735 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,387 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 16.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,423,015 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $162,238,000 after acquiring an additional 204,478 shares during the period. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 404,839 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $46,156,000 after acquiring an additional 66,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $115.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $97.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $115.53 and its 200-day moving average is $109.52. The company has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

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.