ICW Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories comprises approximately 1.3% of ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after acquiring an additional 701,740 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $16,764,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,932,000. Garde Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 93,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,333,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.99 on Friday, hitting $114.09. 199,267 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,834,565. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $107.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.79.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ABT. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

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.