Gagnon Securities LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Gagnon Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,769 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $1,603,607,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth $1,082,524,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $902,938,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $732,788,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after buying an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at $11,691,756. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $109.38 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week high of $132.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.74. The stock has a market cap of $189.43 billion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.42. The firm had revenue of $13.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.03%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products and branded generic medicines. Its products serve patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics and other care settings. Abbott’s offerings include the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, cardiovascular and other medical devices, laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests, and nutrition brands such as Ensure and Similac. Its established pharmaceuticals business sells branded generic medicines in markets outside the United States.