West Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $67,000 Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 616 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Elequin Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 73.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $6,829,785.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $6,829,785.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $770,759,948.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $101.76 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.17. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $93.25 and a 12-month high of $115.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $176.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The business 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 company’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.4 earnings per share 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.