Vest Financial LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 592,300 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,811 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for 1.1% of Vest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $80,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,755 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 38,467 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,590 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth $6,394,000. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc now owns 3,059 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 48,332 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,411,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $132.30 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $110.86 and a 1 year high of $141.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.60. The firm has a market cap of $230.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.69.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%.The business had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $141.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.