Apella Capital LLC Has $721,000 Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,371 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 506.9% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 15,987 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,661,000 after buying an additional 13,353 shares in the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.0% during the second quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 56,553 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,876,000 after purchasing an additional 4,672 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.4% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 508,812 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $52,871,000 after purchasing an additional 43,764 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,487 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after buying an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $110.96 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The firm has a market cap of $192.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.73%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.