Strata Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $412,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Strata Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,625 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,115,836,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after buying an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $415,948,000 after buying an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,009,838 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $551,434,000 after buying an additional 1,477,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 64,294,784 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,077,148,000 after buying an additional 1,457,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.64.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ABT traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.91. 8,283,577 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,748,477. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $180.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.96%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction of $1,055,843.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction of $1,055,843.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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 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.