Morris Financial Concepts Inc. Purchases 95 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,329 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 16,975 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased 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 acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 808,863 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $91,400,000 after acquiring an additional 50,592 shares during the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at $219,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ABT. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $130.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $132.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

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.