Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by LMG Wealth Partners LLC

LMG Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,161 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. LMG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 280,441 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 585,915 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $132.18 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $229.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $119.93 and a 200-day moving average of $116.53. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $132.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.