BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 333,170 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 42,907 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $37,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ABT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (up previously from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $142.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This trade represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $12,745,859 in the last three months. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of ABT stock opened at $135.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23. The company's fifty day moving average price is $129.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.37. The company has a market capitalization of $235.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is 30.61%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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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