Saxon Interests Inc. Takes $307,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Saxon Interests Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,786 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 21,419 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,074,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 91,868 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 634.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 29,758 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,882,000 after buying an additional 25,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 373,375 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $36,161,000 after buying an additional 5,058 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. 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 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ABT traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $113.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,278,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,747,185. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.42. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $197.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

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.