Herold Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Herold Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,402 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,048 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 65.3% during the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 762 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 147.0% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,159 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 18,546 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 8,235 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.7% in the third quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,575 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after buying an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,805,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ABT opened at $107.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $113.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.49, a PEG ratio of 2.57 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. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.