Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Reduces Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt cut its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 72.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 32,600 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,938,892,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 303.0% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,429,571 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $454,784,000 after buying an additional 3,330,368 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $336,815,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $21,995,501,000 after buying an additional 2,402,408 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $131.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau acquired 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.50 per share, for a total transaction of $201,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,300. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $92.65 per share, for a total transaction of $926,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 6,751,103 shares in the company, valued at $625,489,692.95. This represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $89.27 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $81.97 and a 52-week high of $137.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 13.90%.Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.