Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Buys 1,500 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,539 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CORDA Investment Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 15,103 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 321,008 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $36,309,000 after purchasing an additional 20,088 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 10,477 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,595 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after buying an additional 1,425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.1 %

ABT stock opened at $135.89 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $136.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.60 and its 200 day moving average is $117.56. The company has a market capitalization of $235.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. 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.