Avitas Wealth Management LLC Reduces Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,265 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after buying an additional 701,740 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,764,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,932,000. Garde Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 93,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,333,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ABT traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.69. 3,688,372 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,979,149. The company has a market cap of $196.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $106.15 and its 200-day moving average is $108.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

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.