Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Capital Performance Advisors LLP

Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,137 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $77,000. Monument Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,972 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 16,032 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $2,359,000. Finally, Lee Financial Co boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 16,217 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $130.63 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $118.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.07. 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 company has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $132.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

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

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.