Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC Sells 14,750 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 57.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,948 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 14,750 shares during the quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Wormser Freres Gestion purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 34,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.70. The company had a trading volume of 3,114,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,156,602. The stock has a market cap of $232.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current 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 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Leerink Partnrs raised Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $142.61.

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.