Morgan Stanley Raises Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Price Target to $117.00

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $117.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential downside of 0.70% from the stock’s previous close.

ABT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.46.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.5 %

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $117.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $204.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $91.25 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.40. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,651,000. Dundas Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 330,227 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $34,313,000 after purchasing an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at $5,634,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 73,651 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,371,000 after buying an additional 18,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 40.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,483 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after acquiring an additional 14,215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.