Eastern Bank Purchases 48,300 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Eastern Bank lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 151.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,161 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 48,300 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $9,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 48.5% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 2,924 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 195,859 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $22,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares during the period. DLK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.9% in the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 47,484 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $5,397,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,359,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,742,580. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $114.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.52. The company has a market capitalization of $202.01 billion, a PE ratio of 36.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $91.64 and a 12 month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. 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 previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $129.67.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.