Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their hold rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a $120.00 price objective on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ABT. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a buy rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Edward Jones cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an overweight rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $112.43 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $111.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.59 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after buying an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter worth about $341,777,000. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth about $264,876,000. 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.