Analysts Set Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Target Price at $142.59

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $142.59.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $145.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $136.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sally E. Blount sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.66, for a total value of $337,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,960.28. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,278 shares of company stock worth $12,745,859. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,373,461,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,658,180,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $945,453,000 after buying an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $635,056,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15,420.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,102,648 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $676,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,069,771 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $131.31 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. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $129.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.62. The company has a market cap of $228.46 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.38 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. Research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.