Alerus Financial NA Sells 260 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Alerus Financial NA lessened its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,520 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,265,762,000 after buying an additional 585,915 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after acquiring an additional 508,524 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,835 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $761,996,000 after acquiring an additional 524,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $118.77 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.00 billion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

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.