Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price Up 0.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was up 0.6% during trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $133.00 to $138.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Abbott Laboratories traded as high as $118.59 and last traded at $118.55. Approximately 1,149,241 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 5,703,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.89.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.67.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at about $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $264,876,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $249,508,000 after buying an additional 1,996,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

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.