CreativeOne Wealth LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 37.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,600 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 8,156 shares during the quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,373,461,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $635,056,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,018,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,020,074,000 after buying an additional 1,948,329 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,480.2% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,551,626 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $169,488,000 after buying an additional 1,453,436 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $126.08 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $141.23. 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 stock has a market cap of $218.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $130.62 and a 200-day moving average of $121.54.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s 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.