W Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

W Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,853 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. UBS Group raised 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, October 17th. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 5.4 %

Shares of ABT traded up $6.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $119.44. The company had a trading volume of 3,386,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,694,411. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $92.43 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.87%.

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.