Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 897,482 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 71,572 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Abbott Laboratories worth $120,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $23,502,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,715 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,184,589,000 after buying an additional 1,390,554 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 821,325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price 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. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $113.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.05.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.17 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $117.34 and a 200-day moving average of $125.23. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $105.27 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue 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. As a group, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares in the company, valued at $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.