Signaturefd LLC Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Signaturefd LLC lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 45,696 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,066 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after buying an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after buying an additional 1,596,835 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,352,134 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $721,984,000 after acquiring an additional 452,308 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.7 %

ABT stock traded down $0.80 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $116.19. 1,057,678 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,721,780. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $91.64 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $114.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.52. The company has a market capitalization of $202.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

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.