Investment Partners LTD. Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Investment Partners LTD. lowered its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 13.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,110 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,071 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $202.75 billion, a PE ratio of 36.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 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 fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $108.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.69.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

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.