KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 686,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 24,600 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $86,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABT. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $185,640,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 858,834 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $115,032,000 after buying an additional 19,966 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 329,430 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $43,785,000 after buying an additional 18,974 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,504 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,774,000 after buying an additional 11,264 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,255,780 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $168,199,000 after buying an additional 70,122 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Abbott Laboratories

Here are the key news stories impacting Abbott Laboratories this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS reaffirmed a buy rating on ABT (while trimming its target), keeping analyst support that underpins a constructive view of the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend-focused coverage highlights a near‑3% yield and argues the pullback could be a buy opportunity for income investors. This supports demand from dividend-seeking funds. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Opinion pieces urging investors to “buy the dip” and comparing ABT favorably within medical devices highlight confidence in the company’s longer-term fundamentals despite the recent pullback. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage noting ABT trades near its 52‑week low while analysts remain bullish frames the current level as potential upside from existing price targets, attracting value-oriented investors. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Abbott’s CancerGuard / multi‑cancer early detection progress and new DETECT A outcomes add a strategic diagnostics growth narrative that could materially boost long‑term revenue if commercial rollout scales. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Options‑market flow has shown atypical activity, which some traders interpret as a bet on near‑term volatility — a signal worth monitoring but not a directional confirmation. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several brokers trimmed price targets (UBS 158→135, Argus 140→125, Leerink 119→106) but many maintained buy/overweight stances — reducing near‑term upside expectations while keeping medium‑term support intact. Article Title Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Social and news summaries flagged that Q1 results beat estimates but management cut full‑year guidance (mild flu season, acquisition costs), which drove the post‑earnings selloff and remains the primary driver of today’s weakness. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Headline commentary that Barclays has “lowered expectations” adds to investor caution; cumulative PT trims and the guidance cut have weighed on sentiment and liquidity. Article Title

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of ABT opened at $92.83 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $92.65 and a 52-week high of $139.06. The company has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.71% and a net margin of 13.90%.The business had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $131.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Elizabeth C. Cushman sold 263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $4,458,267.34. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $67,614.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 24,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,846,504.24. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,055 shares of company stock worth $353,097. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.