Gemmer Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,495 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 99 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,721,656 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,799,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,801 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,371,069 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,761,133,000 after buying an additional 568,480 shares in the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,507,561 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $925,878,000 after buying an additional 121,985 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,156,120 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $778,801,000 after buying an additional 251,776 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,571,332 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $497,498,000 after acquiring an additional 347,494 shares during the last quarter. 72.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
In related news, Director Phebe N. Novakovic sold 4,790 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.28, for a total transaction of $513,871.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,695,366.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.
ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $118.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $114.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $137.00 in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $121.63.
Shares of ABT traded up $3.20 on Friday, hitting $123.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,995,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,733,233. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $110.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.79. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $61.61 and a fifty-two week high of $124.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.83.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 26th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 10.50% and a return on equity of 18.19%. The company had revenue of $10.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 14th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.56%.
About Abbott Laboratories
Abbott Laboratories discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. Its Established Pharmaceutical Products segment offers generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency; irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm; intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptom; gynecological disorder; hormone replacement therapy; dyslipidemia; hypertension; hypothyroidism; Ménière's disease and vestibular vertigo; pain, fever, and inflammation; migraine; and anti-infective clarithromycin, as well as provides influenza vaccines and products that regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.
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