SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Takes $449,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,970 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 557,608 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $63,573,000 after buying an additional 2,754 shares during the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% during the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,209 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. ASB Consultores LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 23.3% during the third quarter. ASB Consultores LLC now owns 5,346 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 95,464 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,884,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,282 shares of company stock worth $3,263,348. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.8 %

ABT opened at $137.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $124.05 and its 200 day moving average is $118.28. The stock has a market cap of $238.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its 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 return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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