Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC Grows Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,493 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. 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 note on Thursday. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT traded down $2.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $116.79. The stock had a trading volume of 3,107,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,719,161. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $91.64 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $113.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.