Encompass More Asset Management Purchases 587 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Encompass More Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,936 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 848.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 216,337 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,480,000 after acquiring an additional 193,537 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 871,196 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $90,421,000 after purchasing an additional 38,676 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after buying an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its position 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 valued at $34,313,000 after buying an additional 6,897 shares during the period. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,131 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 4.4 %

NYSE ABT opened at $122.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $213.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $123.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.08.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11,029,400 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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 yield of 1.92%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

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.