Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $121.80.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABT. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,257 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after buying an additional 2,714 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 7,556 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,322 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 111,176 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,252,000 after buying an additional 3,767 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE ABT opened at $117.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $203.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

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.