Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 357,608 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 85.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 61,246 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 357,608 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,853,782 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,004,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,791 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 63,229,445 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,922,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,706 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,169,239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,907,523,000 after purchasing an additional 400,400 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.50.

Key Stories Impacting Abbott Laboratories

Here are the key news stories impacting Abbott Laboratories this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Abbott shares outperformed the broader market in the latest session, suggesting continued investor support for the diversified healthcare-products company. The move adds to its gains above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Abbott Exceeds Market Returns: Some Facts to Consider
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate market comparison reported that Abbott underperformed its competitors during Tuesday’s trading session. The article did not identify a company-specific operational problem, making the relative weakness more relevant to short-term sentiment than to Abbott’s long-term fundamentals. Abbott Laboratories Stock Underperforms Tuesday
• Neutral Sentiment: Vice President John McCoy Jr. sold 27 shares for approximately $2,958. The transaction reduced his direct holdings by only 0.11%, leaving him with 24,549 shares, so it is too small to represent a meaningful change in insider conviction. SEC Insider Transaction Filing
• Neutral Sentiment: An investor-focused healthcare article mentioned Abbott primarily as the former parent of AbbVie, rather than discussing new developments at ABT. It therefore provides little direct information about Abbott’s near-term earnings or valuation. Abbott Laboratories Company Information

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $108.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.28 billion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.59. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $81.97 and a 52-week high of $137.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.52 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 11.65%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.46 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.450-5.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 81.55%.

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.