Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 488,764 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 488,764 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,963,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE ABT opened at $114.90 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $199.29 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.