9,333 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Acquired by AlphaCentric Advisors LLC

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,333 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,056,000. Abbott Laboratories makes up about 1.1% of AlphaCentric Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $91,400,000 after purchasing an additional 50,592 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $204,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,445,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Embree Financial Group increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.9% during the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 28,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 45.6% during the third quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $130.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.07. The company has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $132.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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 reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

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.