YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 300 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,626 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after buying an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the third quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $427,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,144,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $127.28 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $129.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.