Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,865,300 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after acquiring an additional 24,534 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories comprises approximately 0.8% of Blair William & Co. IL's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $180,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth approximately $131,000. United Bank lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 27,280 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,229,000 after buying an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 813,253 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $96,257,000 after buying an additional 15,521 shares in the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 636.2% during the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 1,915 shares in the last quarter. 72.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John F. Ginascol sold 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.32, for a total value of $1,235,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 111,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,569,955.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.3 %

ABT stock traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $111.07. 692,659 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,837,762. The firm's 50-day moving average is $109.86 and its 200-day moving average is $105.96. The company has a market cap of $193.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $93.25 and a 12 month high of $130.79.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.69 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 15.88%. The company's revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 13th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 12th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Nutritional Products, Diagnostic Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.

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