Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $235,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,078 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 848.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 216,337 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,480,000 after purchasing an additional 193,537 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 871,196 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $90,421,000 after purchasing an additional 38,676 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $426,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2,317.1% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 123,296 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,812,000 after purchasing an additional 118,195 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,654,712 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $483,673,000 after purchasing an additional 563,506 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.5 %

ABT opened at $125.12 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $125.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $217.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted 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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11,029,400 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

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.