Elgethun Capital Management Has $321,000 Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Elgethun Capital Management boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,837 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Elgethun Capital Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Rathbones Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 2,626,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $297,039,000 after purchasing an additional 84,300 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,885,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,018,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,020,074,000 after buying an additional 1,948,329 shares in the last quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,006,068 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $113,878,000 after acquiring an additional 38,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’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 $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 over the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $124.46 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.18 and a 200 day moving average of $120.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.94.

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.