Kimelman & Baird LLC Acquires Shares of 29,939 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 29,939 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,111,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 231.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,996 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 31.6% during the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,207 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 2,211 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $334,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,207,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 170,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,753,000 after purchasing an additional 8,620 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $112.43 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $195.59 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $111.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.19. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

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.