New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 73,492 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,562,029 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 73,492 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Abbott Laboratories worth $176,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $91,400,000 after buying an additional 50,592 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 13,282 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,514,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the third quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 52,860 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $6,027,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,308 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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 increased 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. Finally, Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ABT traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $130.12. 5,116,167 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,719,520. The company has a market cap of $225.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. 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 one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $132.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $119.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.29.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.