Americana Partners LLC Purchases 806 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Americana Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 10.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,774 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the quarter. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth $30,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $113.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $197.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.76. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

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.