Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Acquired by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,915 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,362 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, June 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price objective for the company. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Benchmark began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $145.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.17.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $132.30 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $230.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $132.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released 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 company had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.100-5.200 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.280-1.320 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

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.