Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $13.82 Million Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 121,211 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 9,881 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $13,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth about $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $34,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $22,091,000 after purchasing an additional 31,720 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% during the third quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,551,000 after buying an additional 16,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,664 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.87 on Friday, reaching $115.90. 6,898,605 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,701,520. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.02 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company's 50 day moving average is $115.53 and its 200-day moving average is $109.49. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $97.64 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories's revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is 66.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.