Quantbot Technologies LP Trims Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Quantbot Technologies LP lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 90.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,659 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 141,543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $7,651,000. Simplify Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% in the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares during the period. Dundas Partners LLP grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $34,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after buying an additional 31,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% in the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,551,000 after buying an additional 16,325 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ABT opened at $118.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.35. The firm has a market cap of $206.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories 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.