Evoke Wealth LLC Has $2.14 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Evoke Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to 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 period. 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 recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $635,056,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

ABT opened at $127.54 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm 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. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $127.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.58.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.