Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 75.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 470,094 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 201,556 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $53,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $91,400,000 after buying an additional 50,592 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 13,282 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the third quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 52,860 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $6,027,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% in the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other 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 approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $131.83 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $228.66 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $118.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.71. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.