Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Buys 43,764 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 508,812 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,764 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $52,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ABT. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 7,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 111,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,252,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares during the period. Finally, TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 21,247 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT stock opened at $118.13 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $109.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $205.50 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ABT. Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.