U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,497 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 2,346 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABT. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $40,409,000 after buying an additional 22,932 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,195,000 after purchasing an additional 5,616 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 23.1% during the third quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 7,616 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.3% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 70,847 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,077,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $208,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.06.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Abbott Laboratories
NYSE ABT opened at $128.63 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $129.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $223.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.
In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
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.
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