Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,976 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,382 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 21,419 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,080 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 91,868 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 257,508 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $28,344,000 after acquiring an additional 11,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded down $0.63 on Thursday, reaching $105.27. The company had a trading volume of 7,294,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,699,425. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ABT shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.31.

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.