Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $144.4737.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $143.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $143.00 target price on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. IMG Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 759.1% during the second quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 189 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $28,000. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Wormser Freres Gestion acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $131.59 on Wednesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $131.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 32.43% and a return on equity of 18.32%. The company had revenue of $11.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.100-5.200 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.280-1.320 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.57%.

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.