Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Position Trimmed by Marco Investment Management LLC

Marco Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,702 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 655 shares during the quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.2% in the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 4,985 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 28,035 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after buying an additional 7,804 shares in the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $219,000. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 34,014 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,973,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 3,844 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ABT. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $117.76 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.91. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.