St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC cut its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,771 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABT. Insight Folios Inc increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $123.17 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $123.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $213.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.08.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11,029,400 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 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. 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 30.85%.

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.