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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target dropped by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $128.00 to $125.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.76% from the stock’s previous close.

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

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.65 during trading on Thursday, hitting $105.25. The company had a trading volume of 2,098,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,628,612. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $182.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $2,115,836,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $415,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. 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.