Portside Wealth Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Portside Wealth Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,193 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 549 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 1.0% of Portside Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 10.0% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,323 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,670,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.4% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,359 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,648,000 after purchasing an additional 6,859 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,418,470 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $147,394,000 after purchasing an additional 100,821 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 479,241 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $49,799,000 after buying an additional 20,480 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABT. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $196.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.