Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their buy rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Raymond James currently has a $129.00 price target on the healthcare product maker’s stock, up from their prior price target of $122.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on ABT. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Oppenheimer assumed 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 restated a hold rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $125.54.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.25 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $113.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.32. The stock has a market cap of $203.97 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $90.87 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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 dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.