Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 42,157 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Private Advisor Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 25.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 122,381 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 42,157 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $12,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $21,995,501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402,408 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,853,782 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,004,880,000 after buying an additional 1,627,791 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 63,229,445 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,922,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614,706 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 39,005,451 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,169,239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,907,523,000 after acquiring an additional 400,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $131.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.42.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $95.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $81.97 and a twelve month high of $137.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.62%. The business had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid 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 yield of 2.6%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.