Stifel Nicolaus Raises Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target to $135.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its target price hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ABT. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 4.6 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $123.17 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $213.62 billion, a PE ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $123.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.91 and a 200-day moving average of $113.08.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11,029,400 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,942,709,000 after buying an additional 280,441 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,265,762,000 after acquiring an additional 585,915 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.