Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,487 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 149 shares during the quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 7,888 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 17.0% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 4,569 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 43,736 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,985,000 after purchasing an additional 20,036 shares during the period. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

ABT opened at $129.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $223.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.10. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $132.50. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories 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.