Forte Capital LLC ADV Cuts Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Forte Capital LLC ADV trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,509 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 21,419 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,080 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 91,868 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 634.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 29,758 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 25,707 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $105.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,610,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,320,693. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.51. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,935 shares of company stock valued at $1,670,048 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% 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.