Financial & Tax Architects LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Financial & Tax Architects LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,069 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 2,860 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories makes up 1.7% of Financial & Tax Architects LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Financial & Tax Architects LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $264,876,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,144,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $113.45. 6,443,213 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,199,178. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.80. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $196.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm 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 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

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.