Apriem Advisors Has $374,000 Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Apriem Advisors raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,303 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the 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 directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.94 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.13 and a 200-day moving average of $117.43. 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 has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $136.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm 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 business earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 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.