Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Invests $206,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,811 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after buying an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,103,997,000 after acquiring an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,352,134 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $721,984,000 after buying an additional 452,308 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $116.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.52. The firm has a market cap of $203.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.45, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $91.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64.

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 company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.