Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Decreases Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 41,871 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 824 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $130.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $132.65. 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 50-day moving average of $118.67 and a 200 day moving average of $115.82.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.