Bleakley Financial Group LLC Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,469 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 257,508 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $28,344,000 after buying an additional 11,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $110.50 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $191.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.04. 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 (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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.48%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.14.

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.