Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target Raised to $137.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $127.00 to $137.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the healthcare product maker's stock.

ABT has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $143.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $144.47.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 2.7%

Abbott Laboratories stock traded up $3.30 on Tuesday, hitting $123.81. 19,531,782 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,947,591. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $215.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $133.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.38. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.92 and a 1 year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.26. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 31.89%. The company had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 30.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total transaction of $337,116.00. Following the sale, the director owned 34,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,960.28. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 162.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,306 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,170,000 after acquiring an additional 14,423 shares during the last quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 6,056 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 874.7% in the 2nd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 45,110 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $6,135,000 after acquiring an additional 40,482 shares during the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 1,726 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 142.5% in the 2nd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,113 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.