Truepoint Inc. Purchases 170 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Truepoint Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,339 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Truepoint Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 186,867 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $21,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 29,570 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,345,000 after acquiring an additional 7,664 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 385,643 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $43,619,000 after acquiring an additional 3,130 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 63.1% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 115,637 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,080,000 after purchasing an additional 44,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lingohr Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $890,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $126.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $219.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.23 and a 200-day moving average of $119.77. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $141.23. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.