Trust Co of the South Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Trust Co of the South cut its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,687 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 474 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:ABT traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $113.00. 1,493,655 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,594,505. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.07. 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 $195.99 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.73%.

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.