Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Position Boosted by Glass Wealth Management Co LLC

Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,640 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 142,327 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $16,099,000 after purchasing an additional 4,046 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,940,321 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,463,680,000 after buying an additional 330,844 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 144,900 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $16,390,000 after acquiring an additional 11,784 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $368,000. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 114,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $12,957,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.19.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $137.65 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $238.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.28.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,282 shares of company stock worth $3,263,348. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.