Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Mutual Advisors LLC

Mutual Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,222 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,009 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after acquiring an additional 488,764 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after purchasing an additional 280,441 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,265,762,000 after purchasing an additional 585,915 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $123.17 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $123.23. 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 firm has a market cap of $213.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.08.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS 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 1.92%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.