Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) Buy (B) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reaffirmed their buy (b) rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a research note published on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on ABT. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Benchmark initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.00.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock opened at $126.78 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $220.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.69. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $110.86 and a 52-week high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.30. The company had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 31.88%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total value of $746,752.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avanza Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the second quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 168,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,904,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12.4% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 669,868 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $91,109,000 after buying an additional 73,780 shares in the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.7% in the second quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 18.6% in the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 18,294 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,427,000 after buying an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 49.8% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,507,268 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $199,939,000 after buying an additional 501,200 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.