Clean Yield Group Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Clean Yield Group cut its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,385 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bath Savings Trust Co increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% in the third quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP grew its holdings 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 worth $34,313,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,828,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABT. Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT traded up $0.47 on Monday, hitting $112.78. 2,061,760 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,398,943. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $115.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.54. The firm has a market cap of $195.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. 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 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.