Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 1,665 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,901 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,665 shares during the quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BDF Gestion bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,651,000. Simplify Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after buying an additional 6,897 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after acquiring an additional 31,720 shares during the period. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% during the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 16,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABT. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.3 %

ABT stock opened at $118.13 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 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.