Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,644 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories makes up approximately 0.9% of Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 20,714 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.4% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 119,801 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,684,000 after acquiring an additional 6,146 shares in the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the third quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 24,315 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 43,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,972,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the third quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY now owns 53,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,055,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.67.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 4.6 %

NYSE ABT opened at $118.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $114.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $92.43 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $206.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

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.