Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) shares shot up 0% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $143.00 to $149.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Abbott Laboratories traded as high as $118.00 and last traded at $117.67. 598,605 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 5,703,130 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.65.

ABT has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.8 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.08. The company has a market capitalization of $202.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.87%.

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.