Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Sells 131,572 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI cut its Abbott Laboratories stake by 53.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 131,572 shares and leaving it with 113,596 shares valued at about $14.23 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive, with Abbott receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $119.43, even though several firms recently lowered their targets.
• Abbott reported solid quarterly results and continued shareholder returns, posting $1.15 EPS on $11.16 billion in revenue and paying a quarterly dividend of $0.63 per share, for an annualized yield of about 3.0%.

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lowered its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 53.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 113,596 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 131,572 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $14,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABT shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Daiwa Securities Group downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $92.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $119.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mary K. Moreland sold 613 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total value of $70,850.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 104,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,053,953.78. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks bought 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $92.65 per share, with a total value of $926,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,751,103 shares in the company, valued at $625,489,692.95. This represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 3,055 shares of company stock worth $353,097 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $84.49 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $81.97 and a twelve month high of $139.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.35. The company has a market capitalization of $147.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.62%. The firm had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

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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