Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 880,721 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,609 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $96,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 236.0% during the fourth quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 336 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth $40,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $105.88. 3,610,292 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,562,046. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $183.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $112.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.41. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company 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.