UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 195 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp decreased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,960 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $17,222,332,000 after acquiring an additional 701,740 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,764,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $2,932,000. Garde Capital Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 93,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,333,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

ABT opened at $113.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $198.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $107.87 and its 200 day moving average is $108.79. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue 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 was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.