Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $131.00 price objective on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ABT. Citigroup raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a buy rating and a $121.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $123.33.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $113.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.80 billion, a PE ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.45.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.