Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Bought by Davidson Trust Co.

Davidson Trust Co. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 34.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,801 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 13,140 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories comprises approximately 3.3% of Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $635,056,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $142.61.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $133.70. The company had a trading volume of 3,114,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,156,602. The company has a market capitalization of $232.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $133.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.41. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.61%.

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.