Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 56,397 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 52.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,669 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 56,397 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Insight Folios Inc lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.93.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $117.76 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.04. The stock has a market cap of $204.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its 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 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11,029,400 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is an increase 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 presently 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.