Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 26.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,072 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 8,735 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,677.8% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 320 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $113.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $197.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $110.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.53. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

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.