Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,117,790 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,533 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $126,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Welch Group LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,095,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $133,691,000 after buying an additional 57,499 shares in the last quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,274,000 after buying an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,828,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $124.46 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $131.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a PEG 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 has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.