Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC trimmed its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,113,620 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 168,669 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned 0.53% of Abbott Laboratories worth $1,030,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded up $2.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $126.84. 7,355,410 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,003,334. 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 has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $130.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.