Naviter Wealth LLC Buys 886 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,519 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,236,101 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,548,228,000 after buying an additional 1,027,390 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $2,115,836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE ABT traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $114.06. 999,325 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,877,640. The business’s 50 day moving average is $107.13 and its 200-day moving average is $108.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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.