Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) SVP Sells $77,651.54 in Stock

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $134.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $124.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.53. 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 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $233.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 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 company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TFR Capital LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 5,454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 58,605 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,611,000 after buying an additional 2,947 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cim LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Cim LLC now owns 16,967 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,919,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.19.

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.