Vance Wealth Inc. Cuts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Vance Wealth Inc. reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,584 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,814 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,171,000 after acquiring an additional 4,705 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 114,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,100,000 after acquiring an additional 7,808 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,557 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.3 %

ABT stock opened at $117.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $203.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.55 and its 200 day moving average is $109.62. 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 1-year low of $98.95 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.