Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Cut by Calamos Advisors LLC

Calamos Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 362,268 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 3,079 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $39,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 235,906 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $25,966,000 after purchasing an additional 17,809 shares during the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 58,775 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,702,000 after purchasing an additional 2,889 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Wealth Management raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Wealth Management now owns 27,110 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,984,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG raised 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 worth $1,007,098,000 after acquiring an additional 135,821 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded down $0.63 during trading on Thursday, hitting $105.27. The stock had a trading volume of 7,295,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,699,420. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $114.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.59. The firm has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.48%.

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.