Prentice Wealth Management LLC Acquires 349 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,494 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22,372.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $135,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196,018 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $135.04 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $120.75 and a 200-day moving average of $116.83. 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 twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $135.41. The firm has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 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.