Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Trimmed by Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 916,540 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 46,814 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 4.0% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Abbott Laboratories worth $100,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth about $131,000. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 27,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 813,253 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $96,257,000 after purchasing an additional 15,521 shares in the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 636.2% during the first quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.14.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $3.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $105.90. The company had a trading volume of 11,999,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,677,717. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $183.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.48%.

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.