Portfolio Design Labs LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,619 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after acquiring an additional 5,059 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $427,481,000 after buying an additional 1,200,409 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $135,886,000 after buying an additional 1,196,018 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ABT traded down $1.16 on Friday, reaching $130.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,732,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,476,600. The firm has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 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 $132.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $118.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.00.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted 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. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.06.

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.