Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Sold by Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 5.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 176,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 9,344 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $18,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,926,279,000 after buying an additional 39,005,451 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $2,938,892,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 303.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,429,571 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $454,784,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330,368 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $336,815,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $21,995,501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402,408 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Evercore lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Daiwa Securities Group cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $92.65 per share, for a total transaction of $926,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,751,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $625,489,692.95. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Philip P. Boudreau purchased 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.50 per share, with a total value of $201,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at $201,300. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $93.97. The stock had a trading volume of 6,911,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,569,929. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $81.97 and a 1 year high of $137.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.24.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 13.90%.The business had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.380-5.580 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.310 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

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.