Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,800 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $12,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.24.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $133.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.45. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $110.86 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The firm has a market cap of $231.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.69.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.57%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.