Invesco Ltd. Purchases 1,948,329 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,018,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,948,329 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,020,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,006,068 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $113,878,000 after purchasing an additional 38,130 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 122.0% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Trek Financial LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 9,761 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 2,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospector Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 216,759 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $24,518,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock opened at $124.46 on Monday. 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 has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.88. The stock has a market cap of $215.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS 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 business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given 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 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.