Prosperity Financial Group Inc. Sells 157 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,256 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during 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 holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 27,284 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 103.9% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 7,307 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 3,724 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 185.3% in the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 1,760 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.0% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of ABT opened at $132.57 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $126.23 and its 200 day moving average is $119.13. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

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.