Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co Sells 1,345 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lessened its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,066 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,345 shares during the quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Insight Folios Inc increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Sfmg LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,370 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $129.11 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $223.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $132.50.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.