Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY Reduces Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,782 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 2,204 shares during the quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 97,996.2% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 2,099,413,455 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $1,893,715,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,820,152 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,108,249,000 after buying an additional 6,003,997 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position 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 during the period. 73.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Raymond James lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.47.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.05, for a total value of $4,702,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,725,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $632,515,969.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $99.11 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.93. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $115.83.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 13th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.39%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.