Allen Capital Group LLC Buys 332 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Allen Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,033 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Bath Savings Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,828,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,091,000 after acquiring an additional 31,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 107,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $12,234,000 after acquiring an additional 25,052 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ABT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $127.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.80. The stock has a market cap of $221.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $129.85. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.