Invesco LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Invesco LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,500 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares during the period. Invesco LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Insight Folios Inc increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE ABT traded up $1.46 on Wednesday, hitting $128.85. The company had a trading volume of 942,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,937,176. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $223.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $129.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. 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 yield of 1.83%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 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.