Empowered Funds LLC Buys 109,204 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 73.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,761 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 109,204 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $26,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $21,995,501,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,408 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,853,782 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,004,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,791 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 63,229,445 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,922,519,000 after buying an additional 1,614,706 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,926,279,000 after buying an additional 39,005,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,169,239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,907,523,000 after buying an additional 400,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.61.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $104.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.99. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $81.97 and a 1 year high of $137.49. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.52 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.65% and a net margin of 11.65%.The business’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.46 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.450-5.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 81.55%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.