Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Reduces Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. reduced its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $427,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $135,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196,018 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.9 %

ABT opened at $130.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $118.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $132.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced 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 business 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 earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

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.