Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,125 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 14,037.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $148,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,633 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,208,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,022,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,219 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,627,373 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $351,311,000 after buying an additional 853,997 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 28.0% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 3,664,856 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $354,941,000 after purchasing an additional 801,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,423,715 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $234,737,000 after buying an additional 783,090 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT traded down $1.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $104.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,149,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,560,422. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $112.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,787 shares of company stock worth $4,098,073. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.