Sound Income Strategies LLC Acquires 184 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,078 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. LexAurum Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,514 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,091 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $6,312,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $125.12 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $115.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $217.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $125.67.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 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 is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

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.