Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Holdings Cut by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,697 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 482 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $131,000. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 27,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 813,253 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $96,257,000 after acquiring an additional 15,521 shares in the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 636.2% during the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,915 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $107.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.74. The firm has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

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.