Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 173.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,609 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 14,960 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Insight Folios Inc raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $113.45. 6,443,213 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,199,178. The company has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G 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. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $114.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.