Willis Investment Counsel Grows Holdings in Abbott Laboratories $ABT

Willis Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 345,349 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 146,000 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for 1.5% of Willis Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $31,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 175,556,716 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $21,995,501,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,408 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,853,782 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,004,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,791 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 63,229,445 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,922,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,706 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position 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 valued at $4,926,279,000 after purchasing an additional 39,005,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,169,239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,907,523,000 after buying an additional 400,400 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.67.

Key Headlines Impacting Abbott Laboratories

Here are the key news stories impacting Abbott Laboratories this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Abbott’s Instinct continuous glucose sensor is now commercially shipping in the U.S. integrated with MiniMed’s Flex automated insulin-delivery system. The partnership expands Abbott’s presence in diabetes technology and could support sensor adoption and recurring revenue. MiniMed Ships MiniMed Flex With Abbott’s Smallest Instinct Sensor
• Positive Sentiment: Abbott also entered a multiyear agreement with HealthTab to distribute its Afinion 2 point-of-care analyzers through NHS-linked pharmacies in the United Kingdom. The deal may broaden access to Abbott’s HbA1c and lipid-testing products, although financial details were not disclosed. HealthTab Enters Multi-Year Collaboration Agreement with Abbott
• Neutral Sentiment: Abbott agreed to pay approximately $670 million to resolve the Gill case and claims from roughly 2,000 individuals involving specialty formulas for premature infants. The settlement resolves a portion of the litigation, including the appeal of a prior $495 million verdict, reducing uncertainty and potentially avoiding additional legal costs. Abbott denied that its products cause necrotizing enterocolitis and said regulators and medical professionals consider the formulas safe and necessary. Abbott agrees to $670 million settlement of infant formula cases
• Negative Sentiment: The settlement represents a significant cash and earnings cost and does not resolve all potential litigation related to the infant formulas. Investors may continue to assess the scope of remaining claims and the effect on Abbott’s legal reserves and profitability. Abbott reaches agreements to resolve a portion of litigation involving its specialty formulas

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $116.62 on Monday. 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 one year low of $81.97 and a one year high of $137.49. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.03. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 11.65%.The firm had revenue of $12.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

Abbott Laboratories Company 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.