Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Now Covered by Piper Sandler Companies

Stock analysts at Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the healthcare product maker’s stock. Piper Sandler Companies’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.04% from the company’s current price.

ABT has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their price target 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. 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 initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. 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 target price for the company. Finally, Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 2.8 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $114.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $199.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $110.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.61.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released 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 firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group now owns 12,193 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 17,633 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $453,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth $1,603,000. Finally, Cim LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cim LLC now owns 16,850 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.