Banque Pictet & Cie SA Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 17.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Wormser Freres Gestion purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,058 shares of the company's stock, 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 through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs raised Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $143.11.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.2%

ABT stock traded down $1.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $131.95. 4,661,224 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,149,109. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $133.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.86. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 30.61%.

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.