Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 88,645 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $11,759,000. Abbott Laboratories accounts for 0.5% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cim LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cim LLC now owns 16,967 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,919,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Capital Square LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,327 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opes Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,854 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE ABT opened at $126.28 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.92 and a 1-year high of $141.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $219.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.19.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 29.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $143.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.