MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 8,584 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9%, holding 450,416 shares worth approximately $59.7 million after selling 8,584 shares in the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard and Goldman Sachs, have increased their holdings in Abbott Laboratories, with Goldman Sachs' stake rising by 29.2% during the first quarter.
• Abbott Laboratories reported a quarterly EPS of $1.26, meeting analysts' expectations and showing a 7.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 450,416 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 8,584 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $59,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 160,232 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $21,255,000 after acquiring an additional 3,458 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 42.6% in the first quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 64,526 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,559,000 after purchasing an additional 19,280 shares in the last quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 23.7% during the first quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 10,798 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 11,374 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares during the period. Finally, Napa Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth approximately $734,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABT. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $147.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. William Blair upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $131.47. The company had a trading volume of 4,669,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,768,362. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $110.86 and a fifty-two week high of $141.23. The stock has a market cap of $228.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $131.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.26. The firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.01 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.100-5.200 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.280-1.320 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

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.