TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 165.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,448 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 2,148 shares during the quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,645,397 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $19,075,481,000 after purchasing an additional 739,260 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 54,097,005 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $6,118,903,000 after purchasing an additional 795,073 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,668,834 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $4,023,027,000 after purchasing an additional 765,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 26,392,302 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,985,233,000 after purchasing an additional 581,325 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Leerink Partnrs raised Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $143.11.
View Our Latest Analysis on ABT
Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance
Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $1.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $131.95. 4,661,224 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,161,139. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $133.52 and a 200-day moving average of $129.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.61%.
About Abbott Laboratories
(
Free Report)
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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