J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Has $27.44 Million Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 206,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,163 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $27,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wormser Freres Gestion acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $127.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.82. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $107.11 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.36.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $145.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus 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.