Richwood Investment Advisors LLC Sells 342 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Richwood Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,071 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 342 shares during the quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $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. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $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 90 days, insiders have sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ABT opened at $126.18 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $218.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $128.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.90.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given 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 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.