Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,181 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 6,580 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Welch Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $7,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,095,443 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $133,691,000 after purchasing an additional 57,499 shares during the period. Bath Savings Trust Co lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $18,791,000 after acquiring an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $126.18. The stock had a trading volume of 8,853,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,482,576. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The company has a market cap of $218.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business posted $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 over the last three months. 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.