Highland Capital Management LLC Has $5.69 Million Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 487.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,860 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,370 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth about $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $264,876,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $249,508,000 after buying an additional 1,996,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $114.22 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $91.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.70. The stock has a market cap of $198.70 billion, a PE ratio of 35.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% 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 prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

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.