Oak Harvest Investment Services Has $5.12 Million Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Oak Harvest Investment Services lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,246 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 194 shares during the quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,291 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 23,068 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 314,605 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $35,400,000 after acquiring an additional 134,803 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $722,000. Finally, Cairn Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,179 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $128.75 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.90. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $129.85. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $223.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase 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 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.