Grimes & Company Inc. Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,945 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,103,997,000 after purchasing an additional 508,524 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,352,134 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $721,984,000 after acquiring an additional 452,308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded up $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $117.18. The company had a trading volume of 137,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,705,529. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $91.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.46 and its 200 day moving average is $108.62. The company has a market cap of $203.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.45, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.