Empirical Finance LLC Raises Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,696 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,184,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,554 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 3,371,113 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 3,616,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,108,416 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,738,831,000 after purchasing an additional 168,095 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ABT. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $159.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $130.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $226.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $110.86 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $130.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

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.