First City Capital Management Inc. Sells 210 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

First City Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,033 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. First Citizens Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 1,928 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,020 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,979,000 after acquiring an additional 13,380 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 32,877 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,719,000 after purchasing an additional 4,852 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 115.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares during the period. Finally, Syntax Research Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth approximately $2,280,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.5 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $114.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,927,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,722,000. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.47 and its 200 day moving average is $112.08. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $197.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 71.73%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.