AIA Group Ltd Raises Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,606 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ABT opened at $115.31 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $92.43 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.08. 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 company has a market capitalization of $200.00 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.72.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.