Barings LLC Invests $214,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Barings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 33,096 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 18,375 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 135,791 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,013,000 after acquiring an additional 3,457 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 10,188 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $240,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $127.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $107.11 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.26. The business had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Leerink Partners began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.47.

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.