Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 35,783 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,308,351 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 35,783 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 0.7% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.08% of Abbott Laboratories worth $173,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the first quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,460 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $4,969,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,973 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $758,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC now owns 96,105 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $12,748,000 after acquiring an additional 17,623 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 3,289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 115.2% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 17,758 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,356,000 after purchasing an additional 9,506 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the 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 now directly owns 34,058 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE ABT traded up $1.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $136.33. 5,081,950 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,095,086. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $237.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.12. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $145.00 price objective (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $142.59.

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.