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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $121.80.

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 25,085 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the second quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 3,002 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 3,423 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $112.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.75. The company has a market cap of $196.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. 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.