Nwam LLC Buys 3,323 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Nwam LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,920 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,323 shares during the period. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 11,073 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 15,883 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,797,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,424,890 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $387,389,000 after acquiring an additional 212,396 shares during the period. Finally, DMKC Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,738,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $135.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $235.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $136.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $122.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.56.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.