Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Position Increased by E Fund Management Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,487 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.4% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 508,812 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $52,871,000 after acquiring an additional 43,764 shares during the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.0% during the second quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 56,553 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,876,000 after acquiring an additional 4,672 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 113,244 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $11,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 767.3% during the second quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 45,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,737,000 after acquiring an additional 40,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.3% during the second quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 357,575 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $118.13 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. 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 $205.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $109.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.56.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 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.