Abbott Laboratories $ABT Shares Purchased by Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC

Key Points

• Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 11% to 114,654 shares (about $14.37 million), and institutional investors now own roughly 75.18% of the company.
• Abbott slightly beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, set FY2026 guidance of $5.38–$5.58 EPS, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.63 per share (2.8% yield).
• Several firms have trimmed price targets recently (Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Leerink, Evercore), but the stock retains a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $119.43.

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,654 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,364 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $14,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,713,135 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $336,815,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $21,995,501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402,408 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,525,906 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $740,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 61,614,739 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $8,251,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478,076 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Mary K. Moreland sold 613 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 $70,850.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 104,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,053,953.78. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 885 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 $102,288.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,918,253.66. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 3,055 shares of company stock worth $353,097 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $121.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $119.43.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $91.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.79. The company's fifty day moving average is $105.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.11. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $90.72 and a 52-week high of $139.06.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.71%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio 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.

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