Fruth Investment Management Sells 750 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Fruth Investment Management cut its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.54.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.0 %

ABT stock opened at $117.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $203.97 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $90.87 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.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly 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 business 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 for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 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.