Phillips Financial Management LLC Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Phillips Financial Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,141 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 557,608 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $63,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,754 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 27,284 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $651,000. Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 7.5% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,705 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Dillon & Associates Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 210,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,980,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $130.29 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $126.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $225.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during 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%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.