Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,586 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the fourth 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,056,860 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,494,851,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,650 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.61.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of ABT opened at $133.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $232.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $133.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.61%.

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.