Evoke Wealth LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,889 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,876 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after buying an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,942,709,000 after buying an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,940,321 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,463,680,000 after acquiring an additional 330,844 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $127.54 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $221.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.