Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,240 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 2,589 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,208,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,022,564,000 after buying an additional 1,298,219 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,016,235 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,229,122,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,153,877 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,164,611,000 after buying an additional 32,157 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,930,872 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,093,091,000 after buying an additional 236,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 9,149,611 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,007,098,000 after acquiring an additional 135,821 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $106.02. 1,768,357 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,497,544. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.78.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.