Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Acquired by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,093 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,061 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.2%

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $133.26 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $231.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio 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.