Guardian Investment Management Reduces Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Guardian Investment Management lowered its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,750 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kelly Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter worth approximately $216,000. Edge Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the first quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the second quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 168,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $22,904,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% in the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 18,294 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 49.8% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,507,268 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $199,939,000 after acquiring an additional 501,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $143.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.22.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $133.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $232.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.15. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $110.86 and a 52-week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26. The company had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.100-5.200 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.280-1.320 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.