Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Lifted by Searle & CO.

Searle & CO. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,400 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,894 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.3% in the third quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 5,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,107 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,072,634 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $297,584,000 after purchasing an additional 70,355 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Citigroup lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. 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, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.32 on Wednesday, reaching $106.29. The stock had a trading volume of 4,096,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,607,342. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $113.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $184.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio 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.