Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Holdings Reduced by Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc.

Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,178 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 106 shares during the quarter. Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 4,164 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 39,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. now owns 41,801 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,048,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 19,179 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,858,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Thursday, hitting $106.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,921,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,563,032. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $113.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.43. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $184.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.