Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target Raised to $149.00

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group raised Abbott Laboratories' price target from $145.00 to $149.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.38% from its current stock price.
• Abbott Laboratories reported earnings of $1.30 per share, matching analyst expectations, while its revenue for the quarter was $11.37 billion, slightly below estimates.
• The stock has received predominantly positive ratings, with two analysts giving a "strong buy," and the average price target sitting at $147.22.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $145.00 to $149.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the healthcare product maker's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.38% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, October 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $145.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.22.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $129.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $224.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $110.86 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.60.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 32.43%.The business had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Abbott Laboratories's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $134.55, for a total transaction of $746,752.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after acquiring an additional 689,517 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $5,184,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390,554 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,763,415 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $3,948,117,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371,113 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth $3,026,180,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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