Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their buy rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Stock Target Advisor reports. They currently have a $124.00 price objective on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $107.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $186.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $113.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.03. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1,677.8% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 320 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.