Bill Few Associates Inc. Raises Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Bill Few Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,321 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 7,522 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories comprises about 1.3% of Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 3,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Global Financial Private Client LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 21,875 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,930,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank of Texas lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank of Texas now owns 3,408 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABT. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $119.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 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, Evercore dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.16.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $104.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $112.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.77. The firm has a market cap of $182.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $104.10 and a 12 month high of $139.06.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion during 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 17.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.74%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $67,614.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 24,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,846,504.24. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary K. Moreland sold 613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $70,850.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 104,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,053,953.78. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097 over the last quarter. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.