Root Financial Partners LLC Invests $228,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,018 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $91,400,000 after acquiring an additional 50,592 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,185 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,845,000 after acquiring an additional 4,080 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 45,022 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 208,881 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,815,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ABT opened at $130.63 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $118.67 and its 200 day moving average is $115.82. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $132.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

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.