Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Bought by Fairscale Capital LLC

by · The Markets Daily

Fairscale Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Free Report) by 17.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,538 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,755 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,774 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 719,317 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $81,362,000 after buying an additional 124,259 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 525,283 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $59,415,000 after buying an additional 14,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.47.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE ABT opened at $131.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.82. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $110.33 and a one year high of $141.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $131.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%. The company had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 29.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

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 company 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.

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