Ellenbecker Investment Group Sells 352 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Ellenbecker Investment Group decreased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 352 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,045 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 43,215 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after acquiring an additional 2,596 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 16,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 3,497 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 186,718 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $20,552,000 after acquiring an additional 15,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 113,455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,488,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $107.59. The company had a trading volume of 3,844,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,728,130. The firm has a market cap of $186.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.90. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.