MONECO Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 303.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,971 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,507 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 25,085 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Berger Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 3,423 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 14,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,563,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.64.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction of $1,055,843.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $103.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,840,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,636,211. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.15. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio 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.