Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Missouri Trust & Investment Co

Missouri Trust & Investment Co reduced its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,120 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. BDF Gestion purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,091,000 after purchasing an additional 31,720 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% in the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 16,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth about $2,160,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.69. 491,863 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,690,339. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $94.50 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $202.39 billion, a PE ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.39 and its 200 day moving average is $109.28.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

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.