Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Barclays currently has a $158.00 price target on the healthcare product maker’s stock, up from their previous price target of $149.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ABT. Mizuho lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $127.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.80. The firm has a market cap of $221.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $129.85.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 166,132 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,791,000 after purchasing an additional 5,881 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $2,828,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 19.6% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 193,764 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after buying an additional 31,720 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 30.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 107,308 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $12,234,000 after acquiring an additional 25,052 shares in the last quarter. 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.