Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,994 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 12,287 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 14,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.31.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of ABT opened at $107.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.65.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, 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 transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Abbott Laboratories news, 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.