Kentucky Trust Co Acquires Shares of 6,478 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $733,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $427,481,000 after buying an additional 1,200,409 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $135,886,000 after buying an additional 1,196,018 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. 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, October 17th. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $131.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $228.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $117.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.42. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

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