Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Lowers Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,023 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,823,136 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,527,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177,739 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,763,415 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,948,117,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,113 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,120,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,451,305 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,916,966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,108,416 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,738,831,000 after purchasing an additional 168,095 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at $6,862,453.65. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $134.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $234.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26. The business had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.100-5.200 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.280-1.320 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABT. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.39.

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.