Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV Cuts Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV lowered its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,349 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 1.8% of Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $40,409,000 after purchasing an additional 22,932 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,195,000 after buying an additional 5,616 shares during the period. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 23.1% in the third quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 7,616 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 70,847 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,077,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $208,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $128.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $116.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.32. 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 capitalization of $223.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $129.85.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

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.