Stonegate Investment Group LLC Grows Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,018 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,292 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $9,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,610 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. One Day In July LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $271,000. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the third quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 29,721 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,878,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.3% during the third quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 35,825 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the third quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 25,773 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,935 shares of company stock valued at $1,670,048. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:ABT traded down $1.33 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $105.94. The company had a trading volume of 5,073,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,625,535. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.44. 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 has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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.