SVB Wealth LLC Takes Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 272,413 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $30,813,000. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 0.6% of SVB Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 218.2% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,848 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 8,125 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 12,304 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 32,370 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $137.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $239.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $138.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.77.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company 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.