Riverstone Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 2,047 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,047 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 12,287 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.14.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $1.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $109.95. 3,769,989 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,540,460. The stock has a market cap of $190.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.51. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.19. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 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 $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.