Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Allworth Financial LP

Allworth Financial LP trimmed its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 248,817 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 13,766 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $29,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $2.00 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $132.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,806,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,502. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.42. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $132.65. The company has a market cap of $229.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.75. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

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.