Connable Office Inc. Sells 278 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Connable Office Inc. decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,820 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 278 shares during the quarter. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position 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 valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% in the third quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,144,818,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. 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. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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 value of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $137.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $123.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.77. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $138.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $239.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.