Demars Financial Group LLC Has $31.38 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Demars Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 10,726.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,383 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 274,821 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $31,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisory Research Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 11,279 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 8,939 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 171,826 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $19,435,000 after acquiring an additional 17,747 shares during the last quarter. Stenger Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $434,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 16,925 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ABT. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $129.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 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.