National Pension Service Has $297.37 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,701,609 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,708 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.16% of Abbott Laboratories worth $297,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14,037.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $148,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,633 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in 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 valued at $3,022,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,219 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,627,373 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $351,311,000 after acquiring an additional 853,997 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 3,664,856 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $354,941,000 after buying an additional 801,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.7% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,423,715 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $234,737,000 after acquiring an additional 783,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $104.70. 2,027,891 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,520,136. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $112.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.85. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total transaction of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at $6,530,337.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,787 shares of company stock valued at $4,098,073 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.