PDS Planning Inc Acquires 400 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 113,455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for 1.4% of PDS Planning Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $12,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. 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 quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ABT. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.21 on Monday, reaching $107.07. 4,940,198 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,752,482. The company has a market capitalization of $185.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 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 quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $114.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.82.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

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.