Community Financial Services Group LLC Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,628 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABT. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 23.5% during 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 period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,755 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 24,988 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,601 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, June 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 target price for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.61.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of Abbott Laboratories 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $133.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.