Vestcor Inc Has $7.35 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Vestcor Inc lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,504 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 11,351 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at approximately $264,876,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $249,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.61 on Tuesday, reaching $115.51. 4,072,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,634,871. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The company's 50 day moving average is $116.17 and its 200-day moving average is $110.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.35 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $130.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.