Stonegate Investment Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Stonegate Investment Group LLC reduced its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,497 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 845 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 97,996.2% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,101,555,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $229,111,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,099,413,455 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 137,153,545 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $14,952,480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584,552 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the second quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 77,225,258 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,419,032,000 after acquiring an additional 820,369 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,817,109 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,156,561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.9% in the second quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,178,607 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,451,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,747,652 shares during the last quarter. 73.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Raymond James decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.80.

View Our Latest Report on ABT

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.00, for a total value of $1,620,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,022,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.00, for a total value of $1,620,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,022,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.05, for a total transaction of $4,702,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,725,316 shares in the company, valued at $632,515,969.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.26 on Wednesday, reaching $109.59. 506,484 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,681,326. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $115.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $102.31 and its 200-day moving average is $103.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.15% and a net margin of 12.92%. The company had revenue of $10.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 11th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.39%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.

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