Wedbush Securities Inc. Boosts Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 15.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 48,498 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,342 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $6,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in 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 boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 50,751 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,903,000 after buying an additional 4,418 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 11,355 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 36.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 65,878 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,960,000 after acquiring an additional 17,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BTIG Research cut their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. William Blair upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.05.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $113.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $197.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $120.01 and a 200-day moving average of $126.61. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $105.27 and a 12-month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.94% and a net margin of 14.72%.Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $108.73 per share, for a total transaction of $1,087,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.