Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Grows Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,247 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 701,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $98,490,000 after purchasing an additional 8,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at $7,651,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.02 on Thursday, hitting $115.97. 1,127,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,725,030. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $112.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.26.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABT. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.