Truist Financial Corp Sells 61,579 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Truist Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,413,727 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 61,579 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.08% of Abbott Laboratories worth $159,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Insight Folios Inc grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Sfmg LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,370 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% during the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 30,617 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,491,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $130.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.14. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $132.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.