Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,517 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,515 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABT. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $135.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $120.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio 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.