West Family Investments Inc. Takes $544,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,772 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Insight Folios Inc raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% in the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.3 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $202.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.67, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $115.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.62. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $98.95 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

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.