Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Dillon & Associates Inc.

Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,560 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,539 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories accounts for about 4.2% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $28,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $1,658,180,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $945,453,000 after acquiring an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $676,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,069,771 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,120,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. William Blair upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $134.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $233.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $107.11 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $131.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.12.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

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.