Griffin Asset Management Inc. Sells 98 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,937 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $384,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 21,772 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,262,000 after acquiring an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $314,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 170,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,753,000 after purchasing an additional 8,620 shares during the period. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,207,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $129.51 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $115.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.46. The firm has a market cap of $224.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $129.76.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.