Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Trims Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,091 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,600 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 47,473 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,370,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711 shares during the period. City State Bank grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 5,212 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 145.6% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 17,936 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632 shares during the period. Finally, Clark & Stuart Inc purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $2,179,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $112.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,245,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,292,602. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $115.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $194.76 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 71.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

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.