Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC

Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,735 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after purchasing an additional 508,524 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,683,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $761,996,000 after buying an additional 524,683 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,654,712 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $483,673,000 after buying an additional 563,506 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $115.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,898,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,701,520. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $97.64 and a one year high of $121.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.49. The stock has a market cap of $201.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during 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 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories 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.