Martin & Co. Inc. TN Has $1.06 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Martin & Co. Inc. TN trimmed its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,326 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Martin & Co. Inc. TN’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $91,400,000 after purchasing an additional 50,592 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $204,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,445,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Embree Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 28,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,380 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.9 %

ABT stock opened at $130.63 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $132.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $118.97 and its 200-day moving average is $116.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.