Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,263 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,034 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $10,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 759.1% in the 2nd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 189 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 81.3% during the second quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 232 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $169.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired 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 owned 6,738,817 shares in the company, valued at $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $112.63 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $105.27 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $195.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $119.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.29.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.94% and a net margin of 14.72%.The company had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued 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 was Thursday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.74%.

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.