Isthmus Partners LLC Makes New $552,000 Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 732,945 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $82,903,000 after acquiring an additional 22,705 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 28,289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 32,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 5,576 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 79,033 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,939,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $1,332,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $137.43 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $125.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.99. The firm has a market cap of $238.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.