Piper Sandler Raises Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target to $133.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its target price upped by Piper Sandler from $131.00 to $133.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.67.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE ABT opened at $119.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $207.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $113.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.50. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $91.64 and a 52 week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.