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

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

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.6 %

ABT opened at $105.27 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.57. The company has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.48%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $2,115,836,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. 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.