Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA trimmed its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 347,650 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 75,082 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $46,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $28,000. Wormser Freres Gestion bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE ABT traded up $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $133.64. 4,852,335 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,155,060. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $232.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $133.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.86. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 30.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,058 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABT. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $143.11.

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.