Glen Eagle Advisors LLC Purchases 2,111 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Glen Eagle Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 62.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,486 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,111 shares during the quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Principal Street Partners LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. Kinloch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 23,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,636,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,666,060 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,206,438,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432,127 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 87,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,859,000 after acquiring an additional 13,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 177,705 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $20,100,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE ABT opened at $135.18 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.37. 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. The company has a market cap of $235.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 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 $77,651.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 value of $131,123.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,278 shares of company stock worth $12,745,859 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories 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.