Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,035 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 16,866 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 187.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 91,865 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,474,000 after acquiring an additional 59,915 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 4,975 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 9,392 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,071,000 after buying an additional 3,173 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 38.0% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,700 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,868,000 after purchasing an additional 11,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $117.57 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.73, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $115.55 and a 200 day moving average of $109.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.