Marcum Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Marcum Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,563 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ellenbecker Investment Group grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 5,202 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Traveka Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 16,634 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 106,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $11,997,000 after purchasing an additional 11,836 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $2,335,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Mizuho boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $112.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.67. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The firm has a market cap of $195.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.73%.

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.