Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Cuts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,082 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 53,804 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,115,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.6% in the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 25,662 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,917,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $404,000. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.2% in the first quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 10,517 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

ABT stock traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $118.08. 2,007,547 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,710,210. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $92.43 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.86. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 13.99%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently 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.