Cibc World Market Inc. Raises Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Cibc World Market Inc. increased its Abbott Laboratories stake by 8% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 393,915 shares valued at about $49.4 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other investors holding 75.18% of Abbott shares. Several large investors, including Vanguard and Capital International, also added to their positions.
• Abbott reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.15 and revenue of $11.16 billion, while analysts maintained a Moderate Buy consensus and average price target of $119.09.

Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 393,915 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 29,139 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc.'s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $49,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 61,614,739 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,251,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478,076 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,938,892,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,951,907 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,868,718,000 after purchasing an additional 4,713,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,500,829 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,804,050,000 after purchasing an additional 499,351 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. Daiwa Securities Group cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $92.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $108.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $143.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Two equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $119.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau purchased 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.50 per share, for a total transaction of $201,300.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at $201,300. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of the firm's 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 owned 6,751,103 shares in the company, valued at $625,489,692.95. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 4.3%

ABT stock opened at $90.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.63. 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 has a one year low of $81.97 and a one year high of $139.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $93.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.44.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 17.62%. Abbott Laboratories's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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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