Renaissance Investment Group LLC Has $1.28 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Renaissance Investment Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,320 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,428 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $264,876,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,144,818,000 after buying an additional 1,180,040 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.45 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $114.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given 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 is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.87%.

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.