Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.14.

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $109.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $189.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $114.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.19. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 25,085 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 12,287 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.