Bill Few Associates Inc. Buys 682 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bill Few Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 36,130 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up 1.5% of Bill Few Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Boltwood Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% in the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,045 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $116.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $201.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $113.44 and a 200-day moving average of $108.34. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $90.87 and a one year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.54.

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.