Bailard Inc. Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Bailard Inc. lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 6,536 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $11,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 29,004 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,945,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.6% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,894 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,435,683 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $195,267,000 after acquiring an additional 292,547 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $82.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.65. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $81.97 and a 12 month high of $139.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.380-5.580 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.310 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $122.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $92.65 per share, with a total value of $926,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,751,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $625,489,692.95. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 885 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total transaction of $102,288.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,377 shares in the company, valued at $16,918,253.66. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,055 shares of company stock worth $353,097. Corporate 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.