Abbott Laboratories $ABT Stock: Machina Capital S.A.S. Reduces Holdings

Machina Capital S.A.S. reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,904 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 20,346 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,343,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350,766 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,706,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,515,963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614,965 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $1,082,524,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE ABT opened at $109.38 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $104.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week high of $132.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.43 billion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at $11,691,756. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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. Its established pharmaceuticals business sells branded generic medicines in markets outside the United States.