LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Sells 1,705 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lessened its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,479 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,705 shares during the quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 26,844 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,789,000 after buying an additional 2,830 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 15.2% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 86,508 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,989,000 after purchasing an additional 11,400 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,394,423 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $144,894,000 after purchasing an additional 103,248 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,242,000. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 115,277 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $11,979,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT traded down $1.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $112.62. 2,193,502 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,308,994. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $115.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.39. The company has a market cap of $195.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share 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 given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.73%.

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.