Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Lessened by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,333,306 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 17,000 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.13% of Abbott Laboratories worth $263,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Insight Folios Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Sfmg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,370 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 30,617 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,491,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ABT traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $135.04. The company had a trading volume of 7,117,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,596,108. The business's 50-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 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $135.41. The stock has a market cap 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 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 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.