Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Position in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of Kentucky cut its Abbott (ABT) stake by 20.3%, selling 63,055 shares and holding 247,956 shares valued at about $31.07 million at quarter-end.
• Insider activity: VP John A. McCoy sold 585 shares for roughly $67,614, while director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares for about $1.09 million, modestly changing their ownership positions.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall despite recent target cuts — the consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of about $119.43, while Abbott provided FY2026 EPS guidance of 5.38–5.58 and the stock recently traded near its one-year low (~$91).

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 247,956 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after selling 63,055 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $31,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 585 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.58, for a total transaction of $67,614.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 24,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,846,504.24. This represents a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at $732,711,572.41. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,055 shares of company stock valued at $353,097 in the last ninety days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $143.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $131.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $119.43.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $91.16 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $90.72 and a one year high of $139.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.79.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.71%. The firm had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories's revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Abbott Laboratories 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ABT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.