Cottage Street Advisors LLC Raises Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,753 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $125.46 on Wednesday. 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 has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $129.04 and a 200 day moving average of $120.12.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 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 analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.