6,196 Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Purchased by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,123 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,196 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,843,610,000 after purchasing an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew 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 purchasing an additional 1,350,766 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,706,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,515,963,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614,965 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $1,082,524,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $107.23 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $185.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.54. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week high of $132.02.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 94.03%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

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 transaction of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,691,756. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

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.