Summit Wealth Partners LLC Buys Shares of 1,794 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Summit Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,794 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Absher Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 177,122 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $20,034,000 after buying an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,933 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 5,163 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 118,585 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $13,385,000 after acquiring an additional 26,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 17,101 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $132.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $132.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.71.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.