Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.30 Billion Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,530,938 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 2,727,869 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,304,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $131,123.33. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $124.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.88.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.