225,996 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Purchased by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 225,996 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $25,765,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 52,270 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $5,936,000 after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 50.4% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 82.2% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 7,936 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth approximately $743,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $117.10. 4,542,800 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,698,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $98.95 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $203.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50-day moving average is $115.55 and its 200-day moving average is $109.62.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. 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.