Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Buys 30,129 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,223 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,129 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $9,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after acquiring an additional 280,441 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,265,762,000 after acquiring an additional 585,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.04 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $135.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.