Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Raised by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 37.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up previously from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $132.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm has a market cap of $231.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.95.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.61%.

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.