ProShare Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,639,013 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 106,409 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $219,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,715 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,184,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,554 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,022,080,000 after buying an additional 821,325 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of ABT stock opened at $110.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $192.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $120.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.91. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $105.27 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.74%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks acquired 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $732,711,572.41. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $119.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.05.

Abbott Laboratories 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.