Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $135.00 price objective on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 4.6 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $123.17 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $123.23. The company has a market capitalization of $213.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $114.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

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

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABT. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after buying an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,942,709,000 after acquiring an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,265,762,000 after acquiring an additional 585,915 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is 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.