Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.9% in Q1, holding approximately 4.17 million shares worth $553.22 million.
• Abbott Laboratories reported earnings of $1.26 per share for the latest quarter, meeting analysts' expectations and reflecting a 7.4% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, representing an annualized payout of $2.36 with a yield of 1.8%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,170,523 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 375,168 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.24% of Abbott Laboratories worth $553,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,823,136 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $22,527,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177,739 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,763,415 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,948,117,000 after buying an additional 3,371,113 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,056,860 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,494,851,000 after buying an additional 2,060,650 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 29.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,985,797 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $2,120,516,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,451,305 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,916,966,000 after acquiring an additional 1,639,954 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $143.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $143.00 target price for the company. William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $1.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $130.34. 1,018,714 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,745,526. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $131.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market cap of $226.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.