Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue decreased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 210,524 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 6,754 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $20,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 31.8% during the third quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,230 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 47,166 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,661,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 120.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 2,030 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wolfe Research raised Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.88.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $104.63. 5,149,368 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,256,545. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.26. The company has a market cap of $181.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

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.