Abbott Laboratories $ABT Holdings Lifted by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 77,836 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 14,031 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Portfolio Resources Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Wolfe Research raised Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.67.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $112.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.39 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.59. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $81.97 and a 1 year high of $137.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $98.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 11.65%.The company had revenue of $12.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were issued a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 81.55%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.