Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Telos Capital Management Inc.

Telos Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,645 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Telos Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 991 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,671 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,639 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. 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. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $128.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.36 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $117.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.83. 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 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change 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 1.84%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.