Quantbot Technologies LP Sells 141,543 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Quantbot Technologies LP lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 90.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,659 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 141,543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $118.77 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $206.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its 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 return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.87%.

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.