Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $158.00 to $159.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 21.37% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus upgraded Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.59.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.0 %

ABT opened at $131.00 on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $130.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. Equities research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.