Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,799 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $4,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.9% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 268,538 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $30,616,000 after purchasing an additional 40,783 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 43,619 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,973,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Monte Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 59,855 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,824,000 after buying an additional 4,610 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $569,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $133.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $120.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.65. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $133.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.