600,676 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Purchased by Zacks Investment Management

Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 600,676 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $68,483,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 64.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,038,397 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $118,378,000 after purchasing an additional 405,122 shares during the period. Hendershot Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 8,558 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 56,097 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,809 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,247 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 44.3% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 250,254 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $28,531,000 after purchasing an additional 76,876 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $115.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $116.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.68. The company has a market cap of $200.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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