Lmcg Investments LLC Decreases Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Lmcg Investments LLC cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,630 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 5,950 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 1.2% of Lmcg Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $19,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,103,997,000 after purchasing an additional 508,524 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 worth $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,352,134 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $721,984,000 after buying an additional 452,308 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $5.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $118.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,149,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,727,483. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.84. The company has a market capitalization of $206.35 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 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. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $92.43 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 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 the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 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.