American Trust Buys 1,050 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

American Trust grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,604 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,893,715,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,820,152 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,108,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,003,997 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9,803.3% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,767,458 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $47,081,000 after buying an additional 4,719,318 shares during the period. 73.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $102.38 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $93.25 and a 52-week high of $115.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $177.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $106.44 and its 200-day moving average is $105.21.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.71 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.50% and a net margin of 12.83%. The business’s revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

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 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.