Banco Santander S.A. Sells 1,130 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Banco Santander S.A. decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,893 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,130 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after buying an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,835 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $761,996,000 after acquiring an additional 524,683 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 5,163,580 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $588,700,000 after purchasing an additional 26,000 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABT. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $117.76 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.88. 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 cap of $204.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued 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 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.