Austin Private Wealth LLC Sells 180 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Austin Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,434 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Czech National Bank raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $40,409,000 after purchasing an additional 22,932 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 6,191 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the third quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,743 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the third quarter. Great Waters Wealth Management now owns 4,186 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,512 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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 on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $127.69 on Friday. 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 $221.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $129.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $116.37 and its 200-day moving average is $114.17.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.