Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Noesis Capital Mangement Corp

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 218.2% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,848 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 8,125 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 12,304 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,403,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the third quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13.9% in the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 32,370 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,952 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related 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 directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $137.99 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $138.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $239.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $123.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.77.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.