27,818 Shares in Abbott Laboratories $ABT Purchased by Jericho Financial LLP

Key Points

• Jericho Financial LLP opened a new position in Abbott Laboratories by purchasing 27,818 shares in Q4 valued at about $3.485 million, making ABT 2.1% of Jericho’s portfolio and its 24th largest holding.
• Institutional investors own about 75.18% of Abbott’s stock, with large funds such as State Street, Capital International and Invesco meaningfully increasing their stakes (Invesco added ~4.7M shares, a 51% rise).
• Analysts have an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $135.47 while ABT traded around $101.77; the company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.63 (≈2.5% yield).

Jericho Financial LLP purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,818 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,485,000. Abbott Laboratories makes up 2.1% of Jericho Financial LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $10,656,964,000 after buying an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 61,614,739 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,251,974,000 after buying an additional 1,478,076 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,022,080,000 after buying an additional 821,325 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,951,907 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,868,718,000 after buying an additional 4,713,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,500,829 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,804,050,000 after buying an additional 499,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $169.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $113.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $135.47.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.5%

ABT opened at $101.77 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $109.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market cap of $177.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.79. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $100.88 and a twelve month high of $139.06.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks acquired 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total transaction of $67,614.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 24,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,846,504.24. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

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.

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