Abbott Laboratories $ABT Stock Position Lifted by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,136,883 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 378,353 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $112,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 20.9% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,283 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the third quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 7,382 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.4% in the third quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,792 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% in the third quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Finally, Plancorp LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% in the third quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 17,646 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,691,756. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1%

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $110.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $190.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.05, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.78. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $81.97 and a 12 month high of $132.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42. The firm had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 9.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 94.03%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products and branded generic medicines. Its products serve patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics and other care settings.

Abbott’s offerings include the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, cardiovascular and other medical devices, laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests, and nutrition brands such as Ensure and Similac.