Natural Investments LLC Buys New Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 41,835 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,731,000. Abbott Laboratories makes up 1.3% of Natural Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $635,056,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $135,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % 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 worth $15,463,316 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $137.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $125.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.99. 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.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. Four 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.

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