Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $19.17 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 184,442 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,347 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $19,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,677.8% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 320 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded up $0.89 on Friday, reaching $113.99. The company had a trading volume of 210,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,834,630. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.30 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The business’s 50-day moving average is $107.67 and its 200 day moving average is $108.79.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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.