Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Jmac Enterprises LLC

Jmac Enterprises LLC lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,089 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $733,000. Certuity LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 7,695 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $870,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 121,856 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,783,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

ABT stock opened at $131.48 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $228.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $132.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results 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 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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 1.80%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.