Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,542 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABT. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $123.17 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $123.23. The stock has a market cap of $213.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $114.91 and a 200 day moving average of $113.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11,029,400 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. 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. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.