Advyzon Investment Management LLC Takes $335,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,963 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 268,538 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $30,616,000 after buying an additional 40,783 shares during the period. Fulcrum Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 43,619 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,973,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the period. Monte Financial Group LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.3% during the third quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 59,855 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,610 shares during the period. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $569,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $133.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $133.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.65.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.