Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $11.10 Million Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,357 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 3,576 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $11,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after buying an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,091,000 after acquiring an additional 31,720 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% in the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 5,664 shares during the period. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% in the third quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,551,000 after acquiring an additional 16,325 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $115.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.52. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $97.64 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company 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%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

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.