Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Boosts Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 173.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 93,360 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,199 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at $264,876,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $249,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $117.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $203.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.55 and a 200-day moving average of $109.62. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $98.95 and a one year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business 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%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.