Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 122.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $51,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Trek Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 9,761 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,531 shares during the period. Prospector Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 216,759 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $24,518,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $7,138,000. Titleist Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 3,437 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 34,773 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,933,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 5.4 %

ABT opened at $124.46 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $131.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. 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 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.