Wealthspire Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,666 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 917 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Encompass More Asset Management raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 3,002 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc now owns 8,290 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC now owns 5,396 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Capital Co lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.4% during the first quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 1,950 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.40 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $202.52 billion, a PE ratio of 36.26, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current 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 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.