Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $13.82 Million Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 121,211 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 9,881 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $13,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $264,876,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $249,508,000 after buying an additional 1,996,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $115.90 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $97.64 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $115.53 and its 200-day moving average is $109.49. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.