Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 14,030 Shares of Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 77,835 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 14,030 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $7,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,755 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 29,004 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,945,000 after buying an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,894 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 1,428 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,435,683 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $195,267,000 after acquiring an additional 292,547 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.5%

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $110.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $81.97 and a fifty-two week high of $137.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.52 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 11.65% and a return on equity of 17.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.380-1.46 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.450-5.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABT. Wolfe Research upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $121.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.67.

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.