Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 34.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,316,034 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 338,256 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $176,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,715 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,184,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,554 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,026,180,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,096,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,022,080,000 after buying an additional 821,325 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks purchased 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $108.73 per share, with a total value of $1,087,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,738,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $732,711,572.41. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $111.52 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $105.27 and a 1-year high of $141.23. The stock has a market cap of $193.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.94% and a net margin of 14.72%.The company had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.120-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.550-5.800 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ABT. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $119.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Argus lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $169.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.05.

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.