Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Stephens Consulting LLC

Stephens Consulting LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 158.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 954 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $128.63 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $129.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.32.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.