Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 75,066 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xcel Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,659 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,884,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $947,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,277,123 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,275,555,000 after acquiring an additional 174,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 2,289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $137.99 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $138.37. The company has a market capitalization of $239.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $123.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.77.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released 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. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.