Rockbridge Investment Management LCC Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Rockbridge Investment Management LCC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,127 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 5,149 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,299,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 104,006 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $11,764,000 after acquiring an additional 24,887 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 556,068 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $62,897,000 after purchasing an additional 23,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $563,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $126.46 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.16. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23. 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 company has a market capitalization of $219.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories 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.