Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Acquires New Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,796 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $118.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $115.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.25.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABT. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

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.