Divergent Planning LLC Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Divergent Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 29,653 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,033,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,658,180,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,120,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,763,415 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,948,117,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371,113 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 98.6% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,467,896 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $471,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,451,305 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,916,966,000 after buying an additional 1,639,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.61.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $129.49 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $110.86 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The firm has a market cap of $225.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Abbott Laboratories 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.