Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 27.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,619 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,059 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $757,000. Axecap Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Axecap Investments LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,910,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,944 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $131.48 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $132.50. The firm has a market cap of $228.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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.