Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,195 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,171 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,942,709,000 after purchasing an additional 280,441 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,265,762,000 after buying an additional 585,915 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased 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. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $134.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $136.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $121.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.11. The company has a market cap of $233.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend 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.