Burt Wealth Advisors Decreases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Burt Wealth Advisors cut its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,337 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 314 shares during the period. Burt Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 88.0% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 107,000 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after buying an additional 50,100 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 14,952 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,705,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Cohen Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,629 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,830 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,212,494 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $366,256,000 after purchasing an additional 408,586 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $140.13 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.10. 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 $243.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm 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 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.