Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 1,000 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bard Financial Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 55,135 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $114.00. 1,816,840 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,242,228. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $197.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.47 and a 200 day moving average of $112.27.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

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.