FourThought Financial Partners LLC Acquires 391 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,690 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 391 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 1.9% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $15,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,208,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,022,564,000 after buying an additional 1,298,219 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,016,235 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,229,122,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,153,877 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,164,611,000 after purchasing an additional 32,157 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,930,872 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,093,091,000 after purchasing an additional 236,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 9,149,611 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,007,098,000 after buying an additional 135,821 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE ABT traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $105.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,610,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,320,693. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $112.52 and a 200 day moving average of $108.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.