ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,571,894 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 67,119 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $196,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABT. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $121.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.43.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $87.82 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.98. 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 has a 12 month low of $81.97 and a 12 month high of $139.06. The company has a market cap of $152.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.62%. The business had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mary K. Moreland sold 613 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $70,850.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 104,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,053,953.78. This trade represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total transaction of $67,614.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 24,628 shares in the company, valued at $2,846,504.24. This represents a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.