Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases New Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 315,052 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $28,588,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,439.6% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 39,319,009 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,938,892,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $902,938,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,563,476 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $13,843,610,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769,518 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 217.0% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,522,222 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $566,967,000 after purchasing an additional 3,780,402 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $110.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $191.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.38. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $81.97 and a 1 year high of $137.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $103.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.13.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 11.65%.The company had revenue of $12.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Abbott Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.50.

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.