Lafayette Investments Inc. Buys New Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Lafayette Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,994 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $28,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 132.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 333 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,069,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,648,848. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $114.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.57. The company has a market capitalization of $185.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.31.

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.