Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 9,290 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 193,197 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,290 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $25,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,715 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,184,589,000 after buying an additional 1,390,554 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,022,080,000 after buying an additional 821,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:ABT opened at $116.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $105.27 and a one year high of $141.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.26.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.73% and a net margin of 14.72%.The firm had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.120-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.550-5.800 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ABT. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $152.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Two 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.05.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.