West Oak Capital LLC Has $3.18 Million Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

West Oak Capital LLC cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,954 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories comprises about 1.2% of West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $635,056,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $676,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,069,771 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,688,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $134.88 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $131.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $234.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.