Nordea Investment Management AB Buys 18,974 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,430 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,974 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $43,785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,184,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,554 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,177,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,792,209,000 after buying an additional 68,613 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.68.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $124.90 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $110.86 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The stock has a market cap of $217.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. The firm had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 31.88%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 29.57%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.