BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 1,425 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 34,869 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,425 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 42,762 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,875,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,671 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,639 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patten Group Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 7,741 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $883,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. UBS Group lifted 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $129.11 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $132.50. The stock has a market cap of $223.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $117.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction 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 approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.