FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Increases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,091 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $235.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $122.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.43. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $136.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio 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.