LPL Financial LLC Has $182.63 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,614,600 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 164,989 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $182,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,875 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 56.8% in the fourth quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,079 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,497,000 after acquiring an additional 7,996 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,101,000. Finally, Umpqua Bank lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 88.4% in the fourth quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 10,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after buying an additional 5,125 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $131,123.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $126.18 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.94. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $218.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

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.