Abbott Laboratories $ABT Stock Sold by M&G PLC

M&G PLC trimmed its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,211,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 114,286 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $119,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after purchasing an additional 6,769,518 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,343,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350,766 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,706,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,515,963,000 after buying an additional 2,614,965 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at $1,082,524,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at $11,691,756. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on ABT shares. Citigroup cut 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $110.41 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $103.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $81.97 and a 52 week high of $132.02.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.42. The company had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 17.97%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.