William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Has $1.26 Million Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 533 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,873 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 8,673 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Cascade Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,345 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 64,543 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,300,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted 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. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5%

ABT opened at $135.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $235.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $129.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.29. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.61%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $12,745,859 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.