Polymer Capital Management HK LTD Purchases 8,000 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Polymer Capital Management HK LTD grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 80.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,000 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $116.29 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $115.96 and a 200 day moving average of $110.60. 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 firm has a market cap of $201.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

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.