Howard Capital Management Inc. Purchases 589 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,601 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $135.04 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.93. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $135.41. The company has a market capitalization of $234.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.