Strs Ohio Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Strs Ohio trimmed its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 3.9% in Q4, selling 21,803 shares and retaining 544,394 shares valued at about $68.21 million per the latest 13F filing.
• Abbott slightly beat Q1 estimates with EPS of $1.15 (vs. $1.14 consensus) and revenue of $11.16B (up 7.8% YoY), and issued FY2026 guidance of $5.380–$5.580 EPS and Q2 guidance of $1.250–$1.310.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.63 (2.8% yield), insiders were net buyers over the past three months, and analysts have trimmed price targets but maintain an average target of about $119.43 amid roughly 75% institutional ownership.

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 544,394 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 21,803 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $68,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LMG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 25,916 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $116,580,000. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,775 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,856,000 after purchasing an additional 7,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 888,432 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $111,312,000 after purchasing an additional 19,310 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $89.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.14 and a 52-week high of $139.06. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $104.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.20. The company has a market capitalization of $155.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.66.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 13.90%.The business had revenue of $11.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,738,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $732,711,572.41. This represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 885 shares of the firm'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 $102,288.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,918,253.66. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders bought 22,200 shares of company stock valued at $2,215,100 and sold 3,055 shares valued at $353,097. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Benchmark decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $158.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $119.43.

About Abbott Laboratories

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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