Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,699 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $984,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $733,000. Certuity LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 7,695 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $870,000 after buying an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 121,856 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,783,000 after buying an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,981 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.7 %

ABT opened at $130.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $118.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $132.50.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.