Providence Capital Advisors LLC Has $5.15 Million Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,261 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 73.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.05, for a total transaction of $4,702,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,725,316 shares in the company, valued at $632,515,969.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ABT traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $99.55. 6,069,478 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,148,285. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.99. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $115.83. The company has a market cap of $172.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.69.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 20.15%. The company had revenue of $10.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 13th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 69.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Four 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 an average target price of $117.47.

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.