Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Barclays

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by analysts at Barclays in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $158.00 price objective on the healthcare product maker’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $149.00. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.14% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ABT. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $127.28 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $129.85. The company has a market cap of $220.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $384,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 21,772 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,262,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $314,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 170,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,753,000 after acquiring an additional 8,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth $1,207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.