Ledyard National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Ledyard National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,871 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,278 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 25,773 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 21,756 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $483,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $75,766,000. Finally, WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 29.8% in the third quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 2,700,000 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $261,495,000 after purchasing an additional 620,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $107.29. 3,306,015 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,632,260. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.34. The company has a market cap of $186.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.50.

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.