Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 535,754 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 11,835 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 0.7% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $60,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 506.9% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 15,987 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 13,353 shares during the period. Financial & Tax Architects LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 56,553 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $5,876,000 after acquiring an additional 4,672 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.4% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 508,812 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $52,871,000 after acquiring an additional 43,764 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,487 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James restated a "buy" rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABT traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $111.51. The company had a trading volume of 332,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,408,849. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.67. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $193.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.

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