CCLA Investment Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

CCLA Investment Management lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 963,113 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 106,199 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $108,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 worth $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after buying an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,265,762,000 after acquiring an additional 585,915 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $112.97 on Wednesday. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $115.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $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 capitalization of $195.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) 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 return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

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.