Amalgamated Bank Cuts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Amalgamated Bank cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 350,801 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 9,592 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $36,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,236,101 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,548,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027,390 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,922,170 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,092,133,000 after purchasing an additional 228,039 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Citigroup raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $118.13 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $109.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.56. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $205.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

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.