Fagan Associates Inc. Sells 175 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Fagan Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,345 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Fagan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the period. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

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 that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $130.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $225.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $132.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for 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%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.