Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Raises Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 685,800 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 14,200 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $77,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ABT. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $135.94 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $136.59. 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’s fifty day moving average is $122.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.