6,478 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Purchased by Kentucky Trust Co

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $733,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the third quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $131.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $228.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $132.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $117.75 and a 200 day moving average of $115.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. 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. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.