Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 6,196 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,123 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,196 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after purchasing an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,343,246,000 after buying an additional 1,350,766 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,706,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,515,963,000 after buying an additional 2,614,965 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $1,082,524,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. BTIG Research dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Argus lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $107.23 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week high of $132.02. The firm has a market cap of $185.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $103.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.74.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 94.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,691,756. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories 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.