Swiss National Bank Sells 248,300 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,915,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 248,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.28% of Abbott Laboratories worth $555,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 557,608 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $63,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,754 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 27,284 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $651,000. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,705 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 210,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,980,000 after buying an additional 4,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $130.29 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $225.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.21.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at $4,417,294.90. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. Insiders own 0.47% 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.