3,186 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Bought by May Hill Capital LLC

May Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,186 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $132.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $230.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $130.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.51.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.