Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 400 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $44,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Insight Inv LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Johnson Midwest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Johnson Midwest Financial LLC now owns 560 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 148.4% during the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 477 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $103,922.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,896 shares in the company, valued at $4,222,103.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $103,922.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,971 shares of company stock worth $199,140 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.0 %

ABT opened at $97.01 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $106.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.88. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $93.25 and a twelve month high of $124.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $168.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.09% and a net margin of 15.88%. The business had revenue of $10.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.