Paragon Capital Management Ltd Sells 273 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Paragon Capital Management Ltd cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,281 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after purchasing an additional 701,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $98,490,000 after buying an additional 8,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,651,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $202.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $113.13 and a 200-day moving average of $108.35. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.15.

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 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.