Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Has $411,000 Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. lessened its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,956 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $341,777,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $249,508,000 after buying an additional 1,996,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Citigroup boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $117.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $204.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $109.55 and a 200-day moving average of $108.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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