Veracity Capital LLC Purchases 458 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Veracity Capital LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,801 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 458 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,115,836,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,009,838 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $551,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 64,294,784 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,077,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457,847 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $102.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,017,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,739,068. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $178.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.18.

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.