Sowell Financial Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Sowell Financial Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 24.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,966 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 5,924 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,347.0% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,056,934 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $823,804,000 after buying an additional 6,011,891 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 180.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,063,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $416,659,000 after buying an additional 1,972,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 98.6% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,467,896 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $471,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,523 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Benchmark began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ABT stock opened at $124.74 on Monday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $110.86 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $126.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.71.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. The business had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 29.57%.

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.