Waterloo Capital L.P. Has $619,000 Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Waterloo Capital L.P. reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 737 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $19,075,481,000 after acquiring an additional 739,260 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,668,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,023,027,000 after buying an additional 765,636 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 581,325 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,373,461,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,463,680,000 after purchasing an additional 330,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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 upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $124.46 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.88. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $131,123.33. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 in the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.