Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target Raised to $117.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $117.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $117.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $205.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $91.64 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.