Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Has $503,000 Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 28.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,444 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,797 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 42,762 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,875,000 after buying an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,671 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.6% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,639 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patten Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 7,741 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target 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 boosted their price objective 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, Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $129.11 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.93. The stock has a market cap of $223.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.