Sound Income Strategies LLC Acquires 137 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 154,563,421 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $14,955,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,683 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,138,862 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,173,676,000 after acquiring an additional 351,136 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 15,689,512 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,117,000 after acquiring an additional 316,416 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,252,430 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,439,881,000 after acquiring an additional 565,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,523,473 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,363,917,000 after purchasing an additional 218,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.93% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.0 %

ABT opened at $97.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $106.80 and a 200 day moving average of $104.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $93.25 and a 12 month high of $124.36. The company has a market cap of $168.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.69 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.09% and a net margin of 15.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $68,375.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,091,998.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $103,922.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $68,375.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at $7,091,998.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,971 shares of company stock valued at $199,140. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.67.

About Abbott Laboratories

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Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.