Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,972 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,260 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. UBS Group raised 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. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $113.12. 4,408,749 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,755,447. 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 cap of $196.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $115.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.54.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted 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. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm 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 posted $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict 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 $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.