E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Has $1.30 Million Stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,487 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,413 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 7,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,466,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 111,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $12,252,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 21,247 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,339,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ABT shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $118.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $109.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.56. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.