Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stake Boosted by Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,520 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 333 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,895,094.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.14.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ABT opened at $109.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.19. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 67.48%.

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.