Renasant Bank Acquires New Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Renasant Bank bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,573 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,603,607,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,082,524,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $902,938,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $732,788,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769,518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 100,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,691,756. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $110.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $191.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.45. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $81.97 and a 52-week high of $132.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The firm had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.32.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products and branded generic medicines. Its products serve patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics and other care settings. Abbott’s offerings include the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, cardiovascular and other medical devices, laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests, and nutrition brands such as Ensure and Similac. Its established pharmaceuticals business sells branded generic medicines in markets outside the United States.