Signaturefd LLC Purchases 766 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,462 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 125,869 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $14,237,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 273,928 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $30,984,000 after purchasing an additional 37,826 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,256 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 2,213 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 40,814 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,617,000 after buying an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $127.02 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $127.16 and a 200-day moving average of $119.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. 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 has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.