Golden State Equity Partners Purchases New Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Golden State Equity Partners acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,142 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $131,000. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 27,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 813,253 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $96,257,000 after purchasing an additional 15,521 shares during the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 636.2% during the first quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 1,915 shares during the last quarter. 73.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.3 %

ABT stock opened at $102.71 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $106.44 and its 200 day moving average is $105.21. The firm has a market cap of $178.24 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.68. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $93.25 and a one year 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.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,785.81. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 6,775,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,759,948.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,092,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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 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.