Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 188,391 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 13,427 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $18,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,843,610,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769,518 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,926,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,343,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350,766 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $1,603,607,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,706,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,515,963,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $1,082,524,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $109.38 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $81.97 and a twelve month high of $132.02. The company has a market capitalization of $189.43 billion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.54.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42. The firm had revenue of $13.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 9.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.03%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Mary Moreland sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.00, for a total transaction of $406,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 100,791 shares in the company, valued at $11,691,756. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products and branded generic medicines. Its products serve patients and healthcare professionals in hospitals, clinics and other care settings. Abbott’s offerings include the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, cardiovascular and other medical devices, laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests, and nutrition brands such as Ensure and Similac. Its established pharmaceuticals business sells branded generic medicines in markets outside the United States.