BLB&B Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 36,294 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,410 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Boltwood Capital Management grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% in the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,045 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.7 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.12 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $91.64 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.56. The company has a market cap of $202.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.