First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 57.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,603 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 50,671 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,737 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $216,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 78,829 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,457,000 after buying an additional 5,521 shares during the period. Greenspring Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 4,811 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABT. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE ABT opened at $133.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $232.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $130.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.90. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. As a group, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.