Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Bought by Willis Investment Counsel

Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 86.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 199,349 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 92,383 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 1.3% of Willis Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $24,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.0% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 3,880 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the second quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 3,706 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the third quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 2,469 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens & Northern Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the third quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 21,875 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,930,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Abbott Laboratories this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target to $144 and kept an “overweight” rating, signaling upside potential based on Abbott’s fundamentals and supporting buyer interest. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat and other outlets highlight Abbott as a “dividend king on sale,” framing the recent share-price pullback as a buying opportunity for income-focused investors given the company’s cash flow and dividend history. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage roundup: several outlets note the stock “rose yet lags the market” after a modest uptick — useful context for traders but not new company-specific catalysts. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage consensus remains mildly favorable: a published roundup shows Abbott with an average rating around “Moderate Buy,” indicating broad but not unanimous analyst support. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore cut its price target to $134 (maintaining an outperform/outperform-ish stance in some reports), which trims expected upside and can pressure sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs lowered its target from $140 to $121 while keeping a “buy” rating; multiple firms trimming targets reflects caution after recent share weakness and may limit near-term upside. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Other broker downgrades/target cuts (Evercore ISI, BTIG and others) have been reported in the past days — a cluster of lower targets helps explain recent multi-week underperformance and keeps selling pressure possible. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on ABT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $154.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $119.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 885 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $102,288.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,918,253.66. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,846,504.24. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $103.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $180.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.79. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $100.88 and a fifty-two week high of $139.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $109.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.73%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.120-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.550-5.800 EPS. Analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.74%.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.