Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Kintegral Advisory LLC

Kintegral Advisory LLC trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,025 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $427,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $135,886,000 after buying an additional 1,196,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.4 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.04 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $135.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $120.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.88.

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. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.