Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

by · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $120.00.

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 19th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $118.00 in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, January 25th.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Abbott Laboratories

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.00, for a total value of $1,620,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,022,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 236.0% in the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 336 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $526,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 98.5% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 25,006 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,752,000 after buying an additional 12,408 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 28,290 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after buying an additional 4,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 5,373 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $112.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $194.63 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $109.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.96. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $115.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.27%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Friday, January 12th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 11th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.48%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.

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