Nuveen Asset Management LLC Sells 38,382 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,058,724 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 38,382 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,250,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,645,397 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $19,075,481,000 after purchasing an additional 739,260 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 54,097,005 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,118,903,000 after purchasing an additional 795,073 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,668,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,023,027,000 after purchasing an additional 765,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 26,392,302 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,985,233,000 after buying an additional 581,325 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Raymond James raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $12,745,859 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $129.02 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.61%.

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.