Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Buys 434 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,404 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,877 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% during the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,089 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,634,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 63,282 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,193,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 213,000 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $24,210,000 after acquiring an additional 38,638 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.8 %

ABT opened at $116.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $92.43 and a one year high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.08.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

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.