Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,300 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 121,856 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,783,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,981 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 23,619 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,672,000 after purchasing an additional 5,059 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $757,000. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Axecap Investments LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

ABT opened at $131.48 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $132.50. The company has a market cap of $228.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $117.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 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.