LGT Group Foundation Sells 152 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

LGT Group Foundation reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,566 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 152 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $606,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,658,180,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,120,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:ABT opened at $130.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $107.60 and a one year high of $141.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 29.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.47.

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.