Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Buys 100 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,902 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,160,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 454,334 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $51,640,000 after purchasing an additional 12,847 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,506,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% in the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,543 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.1% in the first quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 55,031 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,255,000 after purchasing an additional 12,068 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.76 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.58 and a 200-day moving average of $109.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.