KPP Advisory Services LLC Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,387 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $956,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,423,015 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $162,238,000 after buying an additional 204,478 shares during the period. First Long Island Investors LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 404,839 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $46,156,000 after buying an additional 66,474 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% in the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 3,489 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 52,371 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four 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, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $115.90. 6,898,605 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,701,520. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $97.64 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by 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.