Patron Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Patron Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 44.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,572 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 2,090 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.3% in the second quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 69,890 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,262,000 after buying an additional 5,941 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 18.5% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 359,676 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,372,000 after buying an additional 56,167 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the second quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 299,990 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $31,172,000 after acquiring an additional 6,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 243,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $25,335,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $113.86. The stock had a trading volume of 3,802,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,855,512. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $198.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.79.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

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.