Lafayette Investments Inc. Takes $219,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Lafayette Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,994 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $28,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 132.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 333 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $1.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $107.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,069,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,648,848. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.61 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.31.

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.