Global Retirement Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,717 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,490 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 95,077 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,760 shares during the last quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC now owns 40,817 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,639,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,224 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 16,378 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.2 %

ABT traded down $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $117.64. 1,314,689 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,708,497. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $91.64 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s 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.