Demars Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Demars Financial Group LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 99.3%, selling over 321,000 shares during the second quarter and ending with only 2,321 shares valued at approximately $316,000.
• Despite Demars' reduction, other institutional investors are increasing their holdings, with Madrona Financial Services and Janney Montgomery Scott increasing their shares by 9.7% and 12.4%, respectively.
• The stock has recently seen changes in analyst ratings, with price targets being adjusted; for example, Evercore ISI lowered their target from $144.00 to $142.00 while Raymond James increased theirs from $141.00 to $146.00.

Demars Financial Group LLC lowered its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 99.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,321 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 321,256 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Avanza Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the second quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 168,401 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $22,904,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.7% during the second quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.4% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 669,868 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $91,109,000 after buying an additional 73,780 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% during the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 18,294 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,427,000 after buying an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 49.8% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,507,268 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $199,939,000 after buying an additional 501,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ABT shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $128.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.69. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $110.86 and a 1-year high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $132.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.54.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.30. The business had revenue of $11.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 31.88%.The company's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière's disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

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