Quantessence Capital LLC Makes New $496,000 Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,383 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $131.81 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.15. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $228.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. 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 1.79%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.59.

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.