Capital Market Strategies LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Capital Market Strategies LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,434 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $701,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth about $32,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Elequin Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.0 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $102.65 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $178.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $93.25 and a 1 year high of $115.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.19.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.