Brown Capital Management LLC Has $895,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Brown Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,846 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $115.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $115.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.07 billion, a PE ratio of 35.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

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.