Avantra Family Wealth Inc. Takes Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Avantra Family Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,838 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $40,409,000 after acquiring an additional 22,932 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after acquiring an additional 5,616 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 7,616 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 70,847 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,077,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $127.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $221.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.25. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $129.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.