Delta Financial Group Inc. Has $860,000 Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Delta Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,606 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Delta Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $135.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $120.75 and its 200-day moving average is $116.88. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $135.41.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 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.