Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Citizens & Northern Corp

Citizens & Northern Corp lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,007 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 957 shares during the quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $28,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.5 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.27 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.