ING Groep NV Sells 99,117 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

ING Groep NV reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 353,673 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 99,117 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $40,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $3,963,974,000 after buying an additional 488,764 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,265,762,000 after purchasing an additional 585,915 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $135.04. 6,840,167 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,509,540. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $120.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.65. 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 has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $135.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 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.