Signaturefd LLC Purchases 766 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 46,462 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 766 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of ABT opened at $127.02 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.47. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. 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.