Whitener Capital Management Inc. Sells 700 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,420 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories makes up 0.8% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 506.9% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 15,987 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 13,353 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,323 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 108,990 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,979 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clifford Group LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Clifford Group LLC now owns 5,756 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $113.45 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.66. The company has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released 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 business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend 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.