Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 978,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp owned about 0.06% of Abbott Laboratories worth $110,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 167,507 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,947,000 after purchasing an additional 4,289 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 142,370 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $16,103,000 after acquiring an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 5,972 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 7,247 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,282 shares of company stock worth $3,263,348 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.19.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $137.65 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $124.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.28. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results 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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. 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 firm posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio 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.