Conning Inc. Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Conning Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 253,290 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 7,028 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $33,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Trust Co increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 109.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 29,412 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,939,000 after buying an additional 15,394 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the second quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 168,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,904,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 858,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $115,032,000 after purchasing an additional 19,966 shares in the last quarter. Seaview Investment Managers LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,068,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 98,941 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,457,000 after purchasing an additional 11,794 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. William Blair upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.68.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ABT opened at $124.90 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $110.86 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.30. The company had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 31.88%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.