Wellington Management Group LLP Has $2.11 Billion Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 40.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,820,152 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,003,997 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 1.20% of Abbott Laboratories worth $2,108,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 22,785 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the first quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,475 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 21.2% during the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 548 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the first quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 4,638 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $112.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total value of $1,092,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,785.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.76, for a total transaction of $5,688,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,775,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,759,948.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $1,092,312.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,829,785.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $104.37. 1,927,113 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,942,737. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $93.25 and a fifty-two week high of $115.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.42. The firm has a market cap of $181.12 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.67.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 20.50%. The firm had revenue of $9.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 14th were paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 69.62%.

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.