Coston McIsaac & Partners Purchases 513 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 40.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,768 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee now owns 20,109 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 7,884 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 5,137 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 5,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 64,948 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. 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 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.64.

Insider Activity

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $103.91. 8,283,577 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,748,477. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.10. The stock has a market cap of $180.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given 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 is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.