Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC Purchases 599 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,493 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the period. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after buying an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth about $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $264,876,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $249,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $116.79. 3,107,433 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,719,161. The company has a market cap of $203.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $91.64 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $113.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.67.

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.