Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 12,764 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 975,877 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 12,764 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 1.1% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $130,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,026,180,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $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 Price Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $111.11 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $193.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $105.27 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.80.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Argus reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. This represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.