Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Acquires 278 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,810 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories comprises about 1.4% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 21,419 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 91,868 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 373,375 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $36,161,000 after acquiring an additional 5,058 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 634.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 29,758 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 25,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.00.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded down $3.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $112.44. The company had a trading volume of 12,965,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,502,723. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.96. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $195.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.19. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.48%.

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.