Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Now Covered by Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $131.00 target price on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $123.33.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 3,002 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC grew its position 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 worth $390,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC now owns 5,396 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc now owns 8,290 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by 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.