Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 24,180 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 167,703 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 24,180 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $22,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 3,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 10.7% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 795 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the second quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 12,555 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Global Financial Private Client LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on ABT shares. William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.05.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.2%

ABT opened at $113.66 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $105.27 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $120.01 and its 200 day moving average is $126.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.94%. The business had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 67.74%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks acquired 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $108.73 per share, for a total transaction of $1,087,300.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.