Peterson Financial Group Inc. Invests $32,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 276 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Bridge Advisors increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the third quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 45,017 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,132,000 after buying an additional 1,597 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $464,000. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 13,788 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.1% in the third quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,735 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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. UBS Group lifted 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

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.