Sapient Capital LLC Has $3.29 Million Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sapient Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,084 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on 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, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $131.36 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $227.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $132.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $117.46 and a 200-day moving average of $115.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.