Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $130.00 target price on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an overweight rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a hold rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $125.15.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $115.62 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $112.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.26. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $201.14 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, 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.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,800 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,566.0% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 34,986 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 32,886 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 23,743 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after acquiring an additional 5,521 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 25,353 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Finally, Rench Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,595,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. 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.