Centennial Bank AR Sells 104 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Centennial Bank AR cut its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,071 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. Centennial Bank AR’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at $341,777,000. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $264,876,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ABT. Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.33.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $113.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $111.97 and its 200 day moving average is $108.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The firm has a market cap of $197.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories 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.