Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 459 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $136.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $236.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.97.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.61.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.