Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd.

Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. decreased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,789 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 435.6% during the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 19,133 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 15,561 shares in the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.8% during the first quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 6,532 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth about $2,160,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 454,334 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $51,640,000 after acquiring an additional 12,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kinloch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 22,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $117.76 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.