Key Financial Inc Purchases 281 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Key Financial Inc increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 281 shares during the quarter. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased 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 during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,016,235 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,229,122,000 after purchasing an additional 343,559 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,893,715,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 3.0 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $3.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $105.90. The company had a trading volume of 11,985,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,677,624. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $183.76 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 67.48%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.