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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $128.00 to $125.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

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

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $105.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50-day moving average of $114.28 and a 200-day moving average of $107.57. 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 fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 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 business had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 67.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Naviter Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.7% during the first quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 21,633 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 4,695 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $207,000. Buffington Mohr McNeal raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% during the first quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 93,234 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% during the first quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 102,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,689 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 37.2% during the first quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 42,054 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,780,000 after purchasing an additional 11,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.