Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.47 Million Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 36.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,991 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,488 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $264,876,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,144,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,040 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $196.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.93 and its 200 day moving average is $112.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. 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 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

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.