Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,335 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $500,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $600,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 870,404 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $98,451,000 after purchasing an additional 17,798 shares during the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 181,915 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $20,576,000 after buying an additional 7,432 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $126.46 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $219.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.