Moors & Cabot Inc. Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,129 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,103,997,000 after acquiring an additional 508,524 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $761,996,000 after purchasing an additional 524,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,163,580 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $588,700,000 after purchasing an additional 26,000 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $116.58. 457,408 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,674,374. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $202.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.