New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,590,103 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 192,269 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.15% of Abbott Laboratories worth $285,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,543 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,413 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 13,316 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Finally, Columbia Trust Co 01012016 increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 5,398 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, 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 transaction 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 $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the 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 $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT traded down $0.21 on Monday, hitting $107.07. 4,940,198 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,752,482. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $114.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.79 billion, a PE ratio of 33.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

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.