Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Americana Partners LLC

Americana Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,655 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 2,006 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Welch Group LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $7,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the last quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.4 %

ABT stock traded up $1.87 on Friday, reaching $135.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,117,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,596,108. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.83. 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 firm has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $135.41.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.