Benchmark Initiates Coverage on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Key Points

• Benchmark has initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) with a buy rating and a price target of $145.00, suggesting an 8.83% potential upside from the current price.
• Following the coverage initiation, other analysts like Jefferies and Mizuho have also raised their ratings and price targets for Abbott, indicating a consensus of strong investor interest.
• Abbott Laboratories reported earnings of $1.26 per share for the last quarter, matching consensus estimates, with revenue of $11.14 billion, surpassing forecasts.

Analysts at Benchmark began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $145.00 price target on the healthcare product maker's stock. Benchmark's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.83% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $143.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.17.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:ABT opened at $133.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.52. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $110.86 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The company has a market capitalization of $231.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.69.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $11.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau sold 5,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,862,453.65. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,755 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 17.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 38,467 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,590 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 26.9% in the first quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 5,933 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $787,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Baker Chad R increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the first quarter. Baker Chad R now owns 107,680 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $14,284,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the first quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 23,717 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $3,146,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.