Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target Raised to $138.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its target price upped by Sanford C. Bernstein from $133.00 to $138.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $119.39 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $113.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.50. The stock has a market cap of $207.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a PEG 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 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued 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 1.84%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boltwood Capital Management grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 1,478 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,045 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is 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.