Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL Sells 200 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,680 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ABT shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.33.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.15.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.