Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,488 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 6,475 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $23,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 51.3% in the third quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 363 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT traded up $2.12 on Monday, hitting $140.13. 7,585,597 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,447,046. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $123.59 and its 200 day moving average is $118.10. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $140.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.