Short Interest in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Increases By 18.3%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,320,000 shares, a growth of 18.3% from the December 15th total of 12,100,000 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Insight Folios Inc raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of ABT stock traded down $0.46 on Friday, reaching $113.45. 6,443,213 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,199,178. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month 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 company has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $114.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its 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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted 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, Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.