Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC Has $2.14 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,580 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,330 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after purchasing an additional 701,740 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after purchasing an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $98,490,000 after purchasing an additional 8,224 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $114.87 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.61. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $199.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.