Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,933,619 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,538 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $448,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after buying an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth approximately $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $264,876,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $249,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $116.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.28. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $94.50 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $202.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. 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 business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’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 value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.