Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Buys 2,279 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,146 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 2,279 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $25,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,056,860 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,494,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $145.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $144.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded down $10.99 on Thursday, hitting $120.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,541,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,250,638. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. The stock's 50 day moving average is $133.43 and its 200-day moving average is $129.32. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $210.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 30.61%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 34,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.