Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 43.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,642 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 8,185 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $5,850,000 after buying an additional 4,755 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,896 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 4,437 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,777 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $221,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

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 sale, the director directly owned 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $143.11.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $132.42. 1,074,229 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,691,314. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.17. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $230.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 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.