Crew Capital Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,514 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 16,938 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 2,708 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 26,181 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 35,931 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,955,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 7,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel Inc bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $107.27. The stock had a trading volume of 3,306,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,632,260. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $113.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.22. The firm has a market cap of $186.13 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048. 0.47% 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.