M&G PLC Sells 114,286 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

M&G PLC cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,211,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 114,286 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC owned approximately 0.07% of Abbott Laboratories worth $119,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Balance Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 41.3% in the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 404 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $40,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total value of $406,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 100,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,691,756. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE ABT opened at $110.41 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $81.97 and a 12 month high of $132.02. The stock has a market cap of $191.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $103.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results 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 17.97%. The firm had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. UBS Group lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $119.00 to $127.00 in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories 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.