Blair William & Co. IL Sells 27,037 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,572,084 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 27,037 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.09% of Abbott Laboratories worth $177,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 2,127 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 5,149 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $1,299,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 104,006 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $11,764,000 after purchasing an additional 24,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 556,068 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $62,897,000 after buying an additional 23,830 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE ABT opened at $126.46 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $129.35 and a 200 day moving average of $120.16. The company has a market capitalization of $219.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. 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 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

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.