3,800 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Acquired by Enhancing Capital LLC

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,800 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after acquiring an additional 3,479 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,095,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $133,691,000 after acquiring an additional 57,499 shares during the last quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after acquiring an additional 5,881 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $2,828,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $126.18 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.67. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $218.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.