Cullen Investment Group LTD. Acquires 175 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,034 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after buying an additional 5,881 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,664 shares during the period. Dundas Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $34,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,091,000 after purchasing an additional 31,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $2,828,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

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.