Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,446 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Everence Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,910 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 4,446 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 12,287 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Three investment 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 a consensus price target of $122.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock traded up $0.32 on Tuesday, hitting $109.21. The company had a trading volume of 7,238,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,590,463. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.51. The stock has a market cap of $189.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.19. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 67.48%.

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.