Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,816 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 621 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $11,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kelly Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth $216,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 152,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $17,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Edge Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,418,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 49.8% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,507,268 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $199,939,000 after buying an additional 501,200 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. William Blair upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BTIG Research lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $133.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $233.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $130.41 and a 200-day moving average of $131.29. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $110.86 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.