Capital Market Strategies LLC Sells 189 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lessened its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,785 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,222,332,000 after acquiring an additional 701,740 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $98,490,000 after buying an additional 8,224 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.2 %

ABT opened at $112.23 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $112.22 and its 200 day moving average is $108.22. The stock has a market cap of $195.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company 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 company earned $1.08 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.