Rise Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Rise Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,151 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $378,000. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,873 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 72,951 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,251,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 5,835 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted 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. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on 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 company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $113.79. 2,620,843 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,148,290. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

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.