Parthenon LLC Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Parthenon LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,063 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.5% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 114,662 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,032,000 after purchasing an additional 18,711 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $806,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 331,837 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $37,716,000 after buying an additional 8,044 shares during the period. Interchange Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth $215,000. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the first quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 4,470 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $116.36. 707,089 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,686,356. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $96.20 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.