Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,896,939 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 787,251 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 2.9% of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned approximately 0.46% of Abbott Laboratories worth $893,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 168,645,397 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $19,075,481,000 after purchasing an additional 739,260 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,668,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,023,027,000 after buying an additional 765,636 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 26,392,302 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,985,233,000 after buying an additional 581,325 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,373,461,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,940,321 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,463,680,000 after acquiring an additional 330,844 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $131,123.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $124.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $215.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.82.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.