Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,384,368 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 47,504 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories accounts for about 1.9% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.14% of Abbott Laboratories worth $247,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 3,002 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the first quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc now owns 8,290 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $942,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the first quarter. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC now owns 5,396 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $116.40 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.