Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,532 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 42,762 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,875,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,671 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $647,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,639 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $128.20 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $132.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $117.06 and its 200-day moving average is $114.83. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $222.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.