Railway Pension Investments Ltd Sells 311,300 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd reduced its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 64.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 175,200 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 311,300 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $19,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 11,884.0% in the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 11,265 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 11,171 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 100,192 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,923,000 after buying an additional 5,475 shares in the last quarter. Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $204,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.6% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 714,594 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $70,459,000 after acquiring an additional 62,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,350,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $147,205,000 after purchasing an additional 13,686 shares in the last quarter. 73.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.6 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $101.85. The company had a trading volume of 843,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,135,089. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $176.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.86. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $115.83.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.15% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $10.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 13th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 12th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. TheStreet cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, October 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.47.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.05, for a total transaction of $4,702,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,725,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,515,969.80. The sale 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 corporate insiders.

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.