Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Buys 32,021 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 47.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,116 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,021 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $11,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $118.96 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $206.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.67 and its 200 day moving average is $110.19.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company 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 company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.