Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Holdings Boosted by Ellenbecker Investment Group

Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,202 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 118,828 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,347,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,194,000. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 198,237 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $20,599,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the period. Bruce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bruce & Co. Inc. now owns 152,300 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $15,825,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $113.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.20 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS 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 is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABT. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.57.

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.