bLong Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

bLong Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,107 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $804,000. Abbott Laboratories comprises approximately 0.7% of bLong Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.06.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded up $2.00 on Wednesday, hitting $132.18. The company had a trading volume of 3,806,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,502. The firm has a market cap of $229.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $119.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.42. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $132.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.