Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $133.00 to $136.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $125.12 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.31. The stock has a market cap of $217.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $125.67.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11,029,400 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41,557 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.