Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Purchases 14,960 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 173.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 23,609 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,960 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41,557 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $114.12. 1,870,527 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,654,256. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $115.02 and its 200-day moving average is $112.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $121.64.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

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.