Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their buy rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $129.00 target price on the healthcare product maker’s stock, up from their prior target price of $122.00.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ABT. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.54.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.82 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $204.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $91.25 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.60 and its 200 day moving average is $108.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $84,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 13,005 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,566.0% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 34,986 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,851,000 after acquiring an additional 32,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the first quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 72,196 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,206,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.