Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $227,000 Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,183 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 378 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% during the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 14,441 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,342 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the second quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,589 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% during the second quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 238,047 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $24,735,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 35.5% in the second quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 50,455 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,243,000 after buying an additional 13,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Williams Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $442,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of ABT traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $111.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,493,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,017,376. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.