Payden & Rygel Reduces Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Payden & Rygel cut its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,890 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 11,400 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories comprises about 1.6% of Payden & Rygel’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $22,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 97,996.2% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,101,555,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $229,111,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,099,413,455 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,196,788 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,151,497,000 after acquiring an additional 598,164 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 40.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,820,152 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,108,249,000 after acquiring an additional 6,003,997 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $118.00 in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.47.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.05, for a total transaction of $4,702,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.55. 6,069,478 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,148,285. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $96.47 and its 200-day moving average is $102.99. The stock has a market cap of $172.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.69. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $115.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 20.15%. The firm had revenue of $10.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Thursday, October 12th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.39%.

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 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.