Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Sells 270 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,187 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories comprises 1.4% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $135.04 on Friday. 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 $135.41. The company has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.88.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

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.