Allen Capital Group LLC Buys 562 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,969 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 562 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,208,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,022,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,219 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,016,235 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,229,122,000 after acquiring an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $1,893,715,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.14.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $109.21 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $114.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 67.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last quarter. 0.47% 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.