Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Coverage Initiated at Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $131.00 price target on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a buy rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday. They issued an overweight rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $123.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $113.70 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $110.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.53. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $197.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after buying an additional 701,740 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $16,764,000. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,998 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,595,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 894,797 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $98,490,000 after buying an additional 8,224 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.