DT Investment Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

DT Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,391 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 2,554 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $91,400,000 after buying an additional 50,592 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 13,282 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 52,860 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,027,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $131.83 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $132.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.66 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $118.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.71.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.