MONECO Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

MONECO Advisors LLC lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,430 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 718 shares during the quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 7,111 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 2,197 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Tarbox Family Office Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tarbox Family Office Inc. now owns 52,187 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,950,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Country Club Bank lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 22,481 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,528,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 value of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $135.04 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $135.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $120.75 and a 200-day moving average of $116.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

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.