GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Acquires New Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 36,976 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,182,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $5,196,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $84,418,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,726,000. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 12,226 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $145.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $142.59.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.78 on Thursday, hitting $132.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,073,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,123,653. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.95. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $231.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $12,745,859. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.