Clear Rock Advisors LLC Purchases 1,582 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Clear Rock Advisors LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,703 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Clear Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,222,332,000 after acquiring an additional 701,740 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after purchasing an additional 16,500 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $98,490,000 after buying an additional 8,224 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $113.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.15. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $197.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.33.

Abbott Laboratories 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.