Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Purchased by Arlington Partners LLC

Arlington Partners LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,722 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,617 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 1.7% of Arlington Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,026,180,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,347.0% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,056,934 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $823,804,000 after buying an additional 6,011,891 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 180.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,063,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $416,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 98.6% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,467,896 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $471,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $162.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.42.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $121.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.00. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $113.39 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $211.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $11.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 31.58%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.