Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Key Points

• Welch & Forbes reduced its Abbott Laboratories stake by 2.9% in the third quarter, selling 17,348 shares and retaining 577,781 shares valued at about $57.1 million.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: the stock has a MarketBeat consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.32, though Argus downgraded it to “Hold.”
• Abbott reported quarterly revenue growth of 14.5% year over year to $13.01 billion, with earnings per share of $1.42. It also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.63 per share, equivalent to a 2.3% yield.

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 577,781 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 17,348 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $57,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $13,843,610,000 after buying an additional 6,769,518 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $7,343,246,000 after buying an additional 1,350,766 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in 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 worth $1,515,963,000 after buying an additional 2,614,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $1,082,524,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,691,756. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ABT. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $119.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Argus downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $110.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $103.99 and a 200-day moving average of $101.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.54. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $81.97 and a 12 month high of $132.02.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 17.97%. The business had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.03%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.