Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 148,700 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $16,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 15,883 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,424,890 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $387,389,000 after buying an additional 212,396 shares during the last quarter. DMKC Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $1,738,000. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC now owns 59,316 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,709,000 after acquiring an additional 25,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 17,855 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,020,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $136.03 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $136.59. The business has a fifty day moving average of $121.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.30. The firm has a market cap of $235.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.