Syon Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Syon Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 97.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,099 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,421 shares during the quarter. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,413 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Brook Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% during the third quarter. Cedar Brook Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,221 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 65.3% during the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 762 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 83.3% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,506 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,858,000 after purchasing an additional 13,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the third quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 11,168 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $107.53. 3,562,949 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,660,822. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $113.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

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.