Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 93.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,517 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 239,977 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after buying an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,265,762,000 after acquiring an additional 585,915 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.2 %

ABT stock traded down $1.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $114.14. The company had a trading volume of 4,365,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,629,562. The company has a market capitalization of $197.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $116.21 and a 200 day moving average of $111.01. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value 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 approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.07.

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.