Persium Advisors LLC Sells 353 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Persium Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,728 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 353 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 0.7% of Persium Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Persium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $635,056,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ABT shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $145.00 price target (up previously from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $133.61 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $130.74 and its 200 day moving average is $125.77. 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 company has a market capitalization of $232.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.