Lisa D. Earnhardt Sells 91,167 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.6 %

ABT stock opened at $137.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $238.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.76.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.19.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,645,397 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $19,075,481,000 after buying an additional 739,260 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,688,160,000 after buying an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 54,097,005 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,118,903,000 after buying an additional 795,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,668,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,023,027,000 after buying an additional 765,636 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.