Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $160.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Abbott Laboratories traded as high as $141.23 and last traded at $137.65, with a volume of 8356261 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $140.22.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ABT. StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,970 shares in the company, valued at $4,417,294.90. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,282 shares of company stock valued at $3,263,348 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 5,454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 58,605 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $6,611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Cim LLC now owns 16,967 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,919,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $238.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.42.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The business 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.85%.

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.