Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 51.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,375 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 5,778 shares during the quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $608,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Insight Folios Inc boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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, Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $113.45 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.66. The company has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.