49 Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

49 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 52.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,708 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the period. 49 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $423,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $761,996,000 after acquiring an additional 524,683 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,163,580 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $588,700,000 after buying an additional 26,000 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This 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 accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.4 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.57 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.