First PREMIER Bank Boosts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

First PREMIER Bank boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,703 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the quarter. First PREMIER Bank’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after acquiring an additional 701,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $98,490,000 after purchasing an additional 8,224 shares during the period. Finally, BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,651,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.15.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $114.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $112.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.21. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $199.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.