FORM Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $531,000 in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

FORM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,005 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 82,443 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $9,325,000 after purchasing an additional 15,692 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,755 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 24,988 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,601 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $143.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $142.61.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $133.26 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.16. The stock has a market cap of $231.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 30.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.

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