Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,050 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 95,981 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,050 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 19,922 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.6% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 118,828 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $12,347,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 14.5% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 23,702 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Williams Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $442,000. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $1,961,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, 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. Four 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, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $113.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,408,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,756,693. The firm has a market cap of $196.20 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.33 and its 200-day moving average is $112.54. 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 quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend 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.