Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Has $1.52 Million Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 51.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,979 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,408 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,045 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $40,409,000 after buying an additional 22,932 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 24,781 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 66,470 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,578,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 6,191 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $127.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.73. 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 $129.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $116.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.17.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.