Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Position Lifted by Pure Financial Advisors LLC

Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,979 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 711 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Bath Savings Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after acquiring an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after purchasing an additional 31,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Mizuho raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.93.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $116.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.95. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

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.