Waterloo Capital L.P. Boosts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at $341,777,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $249,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $114.87 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $199.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.61.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

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.