UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Acquires 5,863 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 24.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,397 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,863 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $92.65 per share, for a total transaction of $926,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,751,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,489,692.95. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Philip P. Boudreau acquired 2,200 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.50 per share, for a total transaction of $201,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,300. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $102.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.42.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $93.97. 6,911,805 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,569,929. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $81.97 and a 1-year high of $137.49. The stock has a market cap of $163.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.21 and a 200-day moving average of $103.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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. The business had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 13.90%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. 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. Analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.59%.

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.