Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 21.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,079,091 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 368,880 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories comprises approximately 1.0% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Abbott Laboratories worth $275,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,823,136 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,527,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177,739 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 54,097,005 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,118,903,000 after purchasing an additional 795,073 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,056,860 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,494,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060,650 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,120,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABT. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. BTIG Research lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $129.39 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $131.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $225.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $107.71 and a 1-year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26. The business had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.