Capital City Trust Co. FL Acquires New Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Capital City Trust Co. FL bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Wormser Freres Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of ABT opened at $126.53 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.92 and a one year high of $141.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $132.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $220.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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%. The business’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. William Blair upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.47.

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.