Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 30,754 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 598,326 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 30,754 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $59,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Balance Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 404 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $406,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,691,756. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research raised Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 3.2%

ABT opened at $110.02 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $81.97 and a 1-year high of $132.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $104.04 and a 200-day moving average of $101.78.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.42. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The business had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.03%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products and branded generic medicines. Its products serve patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics and other care settings.

Abbott’s offerings include the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, cardiovascular and other medical devices, laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests, and nutrition brands such as Ensure and Similac.