Rialto Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 252 Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 252 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,963,974,000 after acquiring an additional 488,764 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,940,321 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,463,680,000 after purchasing an additional 330,844 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This trade represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.19.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $137.23 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.82. The company has a market cap of $238.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. 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 has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.