Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,066 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,942,709,000 after purchasing an additional 280,441 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,277,123 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,275,555,000 after purchasing an additional 174,919 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE ABT opened at $137.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $138.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.