Westpac Banking Corp Sells 5,823 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 20.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,019 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 5,823 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $2,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 81.3% in the second quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 232 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Argus cut their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $114.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.75. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $105.27 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $117.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.47.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.73%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 67.74%.

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.