Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Has $615,000 Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,639 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Wormser Freres Gestion bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price 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. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial upped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the 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 owned 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.2%

ABT opened at $131.79 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $133.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm has a market cap of $229.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.89% and a return on equity of 19.01%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.61%.

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.