Cairn Investment Group Inc. Has $360,000 Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Cairn Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 71.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,179 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares during the quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,544 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 15,513 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 12,876 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 5,309 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 10,500 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $127.86 on Thursday. 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 $129.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.80. The company has a market cap of $221.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. 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.