Freemont Management S.A. Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Freemont Management S.A. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 46.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,180 shares during the quarter. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after purchasing an additional 31,720 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% during the third quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 16,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $2,176,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $115.74 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $96.20 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $200.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $115.43 and a 200-day moving average of $109.35.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

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.