Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 4,074 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,074 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,091,000 after acquiring an additional 31,720 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 5,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 110.1% in the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 31,148 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 16,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ABT opened at $115.90 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $97.64 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.