Arkadios Wealth Advisors Boosts Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 93.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,070 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 11,168 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 203.5% during the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 238,843 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $31,683,000 after purchasing an additional 160,148 shares in the last quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% during the first quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,665 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth about $796,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at about $11,759,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5%

ABT opened at $128.63 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $131.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $103.55 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26. The company had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 32.43%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.57%.

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.