Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Arlington Partners LLC

Arlington Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,155 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,575 shares during the quarter. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $264,876,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $249,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,320 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $2.51 during trading on Monday, hitting $116.88. The stock had a trading volume of 3,199,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,719,161. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $91.64 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $203.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $113.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.67.

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.