Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Trims Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 82,437 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 206 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $635,056,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $676,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,069,771 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ABT opened at $136.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.26 and a 200 day moving average of $126.25. The company has a market cap of $237.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.59.

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.