Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,184 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,714 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 7,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 111,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,252,000 after acquiring an additional 3,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $113.10 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $107.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.79. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $196.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 posted $1.08 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

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.