Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target Raised to $144.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target raised by Evercore ISI from $142.00 to $144.00 in a research note released on Monday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

ABT has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $147.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. William Blair upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.47.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE ABT opened at $127.06 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.94 billion, a PE ratio of 15.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $110.86 and a 52-week high of $141.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. The firm had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.120-5.180 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 29.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,347.0% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,056,934 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $823,804,000 after purchasing an additional 6,011,891 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,951,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,868,718,000 after buying an additional 4,713,135 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 180.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,063,443 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $416,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,097 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.