Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,718 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,222,332,000 after buying an additional 701,740 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew 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 valued at $98,490,000 after purchasing an additional 8,224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $114.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $198.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, 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 current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $111.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.16.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.