Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ABT. Mizuho upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $124.67.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $97.01 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $93.25 and a 52-week high of $124.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.88.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.09% and a net margin of 15.88%. The business had revenue of $10.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $68,375.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,091,998.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $68,375.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,091,998.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $103,922.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,971 shares of company stock valued at $199,140 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 154,563,421 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $14,955,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,683 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,138,862 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,173,676,000 after acquiring an additional 351,136 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,598,624 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,352,840,000 after acquiring an additional 537,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.93% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.