Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 628,021 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 49.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,906,560 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 628,021 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $195,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,938,892,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 303.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,429,571 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $454,784,000 after buying an additional 3,330,368 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $336,815,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $21,995,501,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,408 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $102.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.42.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $93.97. 6,911,805 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,569,929. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $81.97 and a 52 week high of $137.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 13.90%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.380-5.580 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.310 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau purchased 2,200 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.50 per share, with a total value of $201,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,300. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $92.65 per share, with a total value of $926,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,751,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $625,489,692.95. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.