Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Position Increased by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,119 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 716 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LMG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,161 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 2,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $588,000. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 135,060 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $15,277,000 after purchasing an additional 24,121 shares during the period. Finally, TBH Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,498 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $132.18 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $119.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.53. 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 has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $132.65. The company has a market capitalization of $229.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.