DSM Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,600 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $2,115,836,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14,037.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $148,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,633 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,208,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,022,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,226,618 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $575,304,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,046 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total transaction of $2,428,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total value of $1,055,843.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,384 shares of company stock valued at $3,653,916 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.60.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.3 %

ABT traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.95. 4,455,866 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,510,455. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.63.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.