Chicago Capital LLC Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Chicago Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,386 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,809 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $996,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 88.5% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 3,058 shares during the period. Burford Brothers Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 14,980 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after buying an additional 1,620 shares during the period. Finally, McAdam LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 4,572 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.9 %

ABT stock opened at $127.69 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $129.85.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 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.