Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Acquires 821,325 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 821,325 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.87% of Abbott Laboratories worth $2,022,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in 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 worth $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,184,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,554 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $3,026,180,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $162.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $157.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.42.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.4%

ABT stock opened at $121.82 on Friday. 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 has a 52 week low of $113.39 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.01 and a 200 day moving average of $128.95.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.58%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

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.