CRA Financial Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

CRA Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,497 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 260 shares during the quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. 73.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 6,775,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,759,948.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,785.81. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,775,316 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.74. The company had a trading volume of 8,303,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,914,443. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $93.25 and a fifty-two week high of $115.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $106.17 and its 200-day moving average is $105.21. The company has a market cap of $176.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.68.

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

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.