Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Motiv8 Investments LLC

Motiv8 Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,477 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,953 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,595 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $53,775,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22,466.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,006,223 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $113,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001,764 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 100,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $11,387,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 10,050 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.94 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $122.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.43. The company has a market capitalization of $235.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $136.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued 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 1.74%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.