Bath Savings Trust Co Increases Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bath Savings Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,881 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up 1.9% of Bath Savings Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $18,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 5,737 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $116,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 510.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 319,169 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,156,000 after purchasing an additional 266,899 shares during the last quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $2,743,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 482.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 18,094 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after buying an additional 14,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

ABT traded up $0.75 on Tuesday, reaching $113.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,620,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,148,290. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.44 and its 200 day moving average is $112.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $197.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.