Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group Acquires 774 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,193 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 774 shares during the period. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Ltd. CA increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 98,142 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,802,000 after buying an additional 4,518 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 163,491 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,995,000 after acquiring an additional 13,249 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 216.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 224,900 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $24,755,000 after purchasing an additional 153,921 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 348,271 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $38,334,000 after purchasing an additional 27,527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.33.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $113.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $197.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.