Private Wealth Partners LLC Has $2.39 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Private Wealth Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,110 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 342 shares during the period. Private Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 268,538 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $30,616,000 after purchasing an additional 40,783 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,503 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth about $142,000. My Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 4,180 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 11.2% in the third quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 8,571 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $132.18 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $132.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.