WMS Partners LLC Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

WMS Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 56,714 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 4,910 shares during the quarter. WMS Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 102,454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $11,277,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,232,025 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $135,609,000 after buying an additional 82,849 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 47,571 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,236,000 after buying an additional 2,123 shares during the period. Finally, IRON Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $215,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5 %

ABT traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $105.31. The company had a trading volume of 9,126,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,986,718. The company has a market cap of $183.20 billion, a PE ratio of 32.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $103.93 and a 200-day moving average of $109.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total transaction of $2,428,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,530,337.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total value of $1,055,843.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total transaction of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.00.

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.