Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Raises Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 870,404 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,798 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $98,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 181,915 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $20,576,000 after buying an additional 7,432 shares during the period. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,430 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 9,310 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 3,475 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $127.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.04. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 period in the prior year, the company 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, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at $10,277,222.77. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

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.