3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Makes New $783,000 Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,538 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $783,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABT. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 94.1% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 10,518 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 5,098 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 5,439 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 135,026 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $14,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 89,350 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,835,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.00.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related 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 value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ABT opened at $114.01 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

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.