Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Buys 939 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,065 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Three Seasons Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,428,000. Welch Group LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 68,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,479 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $273,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,095,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $133,691,000 after buying an additional 57,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,274,000 after buying an additional 2,774 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,278 shares of company stock valued at $12,745,859 over the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $133.50 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $129.80 and a 200-day moving average of $123.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $232.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

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.