Carnegie Investment Counsel Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 197,549 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,551 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $22,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insight Folios Inc raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC lifted 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 during the period. Boltwood Capital Management grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the third 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 lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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 target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $113.85 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $197.47 billion, a PE ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS 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 issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

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.