Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Holdings Cut by Verus Capital Partners LLC

Verus Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,380 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,325 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 15,539 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 15,103 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 321,008 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $36,309,000 after purchasing an additional 20,088 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 10,477 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $137.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $123.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $138.37.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

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.