InTrack Investment Management Inc Cuts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

InTrack Investment Management Inc trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 84.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,997 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 10,660 shares during the quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $945,453,000 after buying an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $635,056,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $142.59.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT traded down $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $135.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,927,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,107,754. The company has a market cap of $235.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.42. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 30.61%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.