Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Trading Up 0.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) shot up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Abbott Laboratories traded as high as $115.15 and last traded at $114.84. 473,635 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 5,729,206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.63.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.15.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’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 value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,800 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,566.0% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 34,986 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 32,886 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 23,743 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after purchasing an additional 5,521 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 25,353 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,791,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Finally, Rench Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.2 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $112.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.21. The company has a market capitalization of $199.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

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.