Citigroup Boosts Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target to $128.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $126.00 to $128.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ABT. Raymond James raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $122.14.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $111.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $192.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.87.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 10.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 18,635 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Somerset Trust Co raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.7% during the first quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 40,193 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049 shares in the last quarter. S. R. Schill & Associates raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 79.5% during the first quarter. S. R. Schill & Associates now owns 4,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.9% during the first quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 3,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advance Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the first quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,434 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.