Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC reduced its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,931 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 129 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bath Savings Trust Co increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $34,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after acquiring an additional 31,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,828,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $1.96 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $112.29. 1,374,771 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,165,515. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.39. The firm has a market cap of $194.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 71.73%.

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.