Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.52 Billion Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,518,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Insight Folios Inc raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $115.93 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.54 and its 200 day moving average is $109.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $201.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.24, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

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.