Bellecapital International Ltd. Has $266,000 Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bellecapital International Ltd. lessened its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,353 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 355 shares during the period. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $449,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 315,771 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $35,717,000 after purchasing an additional 49,087 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 61.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $856,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 22,760 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $137.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $239.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $138.62.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

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.