Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Holdings Boosted by Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,412 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 4,464 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $3,475,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 213,949 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $24,200,000 after acquiring an additional 14,266 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,990,278 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $451,340,000 after acquiring an additional 56,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 26,019 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,943,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 2.9 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $128.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.36 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.