Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Cuts Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,831 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,490 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1,677.8% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 320 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $114.87 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $199.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average of $110.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.61.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.