Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Trims Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,819 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Cairn Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,179 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 72.4% in the 4th quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,544 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 15,513 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 12,876 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 5,309 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $127.86 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $129.85. The company has a market capitalization of $221.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal 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. 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 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.