Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Up 0.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was up 0.9% on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Abbott Laboratories traded as high as $115.30 and last traded at $114.35. Approximately 1,226,833 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,739,943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $113.36.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on ABT. Piper Sandler started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,236,101 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,548,228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027,390 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after purchasing an additional 508,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,922,170 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,092,133,000 after purchasing an additional 228,039 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $202.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.26.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.