Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. has reduced its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.5%, selling 22,575 shares to hold a total of 325,757 shares valued at approximately $43.2 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have recently altered their stakes in Abbott Laboratories, with Goldman Sachs increasing its holdings by 29.2%
• Abbott Laboratories has a current stock price of $134.41, and it reported a quarterly revenue of $11.14 billion, surpassing expectations.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 325,757 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 22,575 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $43,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth about $448,000. Lcnb Corp lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the first quarter. Lcnb Corp now owns 15,917 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,111,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 200.6% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 460,012 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $61,021,000 after buying an additional 306,991 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,293,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at approximately $561,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $143.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. BTIG Research lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $145.00 target price (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.2%

ABT traded down $2.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $131.38. 7,125,607 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,884,953. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $131.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.12. The stock has a market cap of $228.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $107.11 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.82.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.