St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 22,399 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 4,755 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 29,004 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 4.3% in the second quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 5,711 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 109.9% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 56,336 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,662,000 after buying an additional 29,492 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.5%

ABT stock opened at $105.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.09. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $105.27 and a 52-week high of $139.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.73% and a net margin of 14.72%.The business had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth C. Cushman sold 263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $30,397.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,458,267.34. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total transaction of $81,946.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 39,164 shares in the company, valued at $4,526,575.12. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Evercore reduced their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $119.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.16.

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.