Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Position Boosted by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,142,304 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 81,427 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.12% of Abbott Laboratories worth $244,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Insight Folios Inc raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% during the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.07.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm's 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 directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ABT traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $115.59. The stock had a trading volume of 3,263,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,645,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $200.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $116.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.