Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Peoples Bank OH

Peoples Bank OH decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,528 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Peoples Bank OH’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 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 stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $133.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $133.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm’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 firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend 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.