Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 16.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 955,375 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 181,504 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $127,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,026,180,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13,347.0% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,056,934 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $823,804,000 after buying an additional 6,011,891 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 180.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,063,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $416,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,097 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 98.6% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,467,896 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $471,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,523 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $159.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $125.45 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $126.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. The firm had revenue of $11.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

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.