Balentine LLC Buys 1,428 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Balentine LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,013 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,428 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $1,658,180,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,120,516,000 after buying an additional 3,616,471 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,763,415 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,948,117,000 after buying an additional 3,371,113 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 98.6% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,467,896 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $471,669,000 after buying an additional 1,721,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,451,305 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,916,966,000 after buying an additional 1,639,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of ABT opened at $123.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $131.56. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $110.86 and a twelve month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.30. The business had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.