River Street Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

River Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,282 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $115.90. 6,898,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,701,520. The stock has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $97.64 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $115.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.