Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $133.00 to $136.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $123.17 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $114.91 and its 200 day moving average is $113.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $213.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $123.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Insight Folios Inc boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 21,821 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,153 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.7% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 1,108 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently 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.