Empower Advisory Group LLC Purchases 9,365 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 917,214 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after acquiring an additional 9,365 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned 0.05% of Abbott Laboratories worth $103,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,963,974,000 after buying an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after buying an additional 280,441 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,265,762,000 after purchasing an additional 585,915 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $133.21. 5,043,771 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,580,481. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $133.28. The business's 50-day moving average is $119.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.53.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded 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 set a $158.00 price objective (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.