Everett Harris & Co. CA Has $170.10 Million Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Everett Harris & Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,545,356 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories accounts for 2.4% of Everett Harris & Co. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $170,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 137,153,545 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $14,952,480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584,552 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $1.97 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $113.47. 7,532,730 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,754,951. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $196.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $115.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.48%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.