Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target to $125.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $128.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued 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 $121.90.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $107.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.82. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.74.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $2,115,836,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.