Royal Bank of Canada Trims Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Target Price to $125.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $128.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the healthcare product maker's stock.

ABT has been the subject of a number of other reports. TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Raymond James upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $121.31.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.63 during trading on Thursday, reaching $105.27. 7,294,151 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,699,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $114.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.57. The firm has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. Abbott Laboratories's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 25,085 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $2,761,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 12,287 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 591 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company's stock.

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.