O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Purchases 32,005 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 27.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,882 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,005 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $16,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,115,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,009,838 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $551,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477,671 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.70.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $103.92. 5,894,549 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,829,814. The company has a market capitalization of $180.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.72. 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 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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.