Edge Capital Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Edge Capital Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,169 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $849,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $341,777,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $249,508,000 after buying an additional 1,996,320 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock opened at $113.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $110.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.45.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.33.

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.