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

Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 158.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the 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 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Welch Group LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,275,628 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $143,751,000 after purchasing an additional 37,578 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 24,168 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,734,000 after buying an additional 3,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,696 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 note on Thursday, October 17th. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $128.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $223.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $116.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $129.85.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

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.