Investment Partners LTD. Decreases Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Investment Partners LTD. cut its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,110 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,071 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,222,332,000 after purchasing an additional 701,740 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Sectoral Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after acquiring an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ABT. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $116.55 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $108.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $202.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

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.