Abbott Laboratories $ABT Stock Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd lessened its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 27.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,793,214 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 690,686 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $177,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,843,610,000 after purchasing an additional 6,769,518 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,343,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350,766 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,887,109 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,241,076,000 after purchasing an additional 118,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $1,603,607,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.88.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $104.49. The company had a trading volume of 5,193,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,256,545. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.26. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $81.97 and a 1 year high of $132.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $180.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 11.65%. The business had revenue of $12.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.55%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is a diversified healthcare company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices, diagnostic products, nutritional products and branded generic pharmaceuticals. Founded in 1888 by Wallace C. Abbott, the company serves healthcare providers, institutions, retailers and consumers worldwide.

Abbott’s medical device portfolio includes cardiovascular products, such as coronary stents, structural heart systems and heart failure devices, as well as diabetes-care technologies, including the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system.