Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,440 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.93.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $117.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $204.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $114.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.04. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.