Bender Robert & Associates Sells 133 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bender Robert & Associates trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,638 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 133 shares during the period. Bender Robert & Associates’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,095,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $133,691,000 after acquiring an additional 57,499 shares during the last quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after acquiring an additional 5,881 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Finally, Simplify Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $132.57 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $126.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.13. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. 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 $229.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.