Stephens Inc. AR Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 109,932 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 4,056 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $14,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 3,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 795 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. FF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. FF Advisors LLC now owns 1,904 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Trust Co raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 14,018 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.68.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $124.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $216.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $126.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $129.17. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $110.86 and a one year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.30. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.