Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Down 0.5%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) fell 0.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $115.94 and last traded at $116.25. 460,198 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 5,811,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.74.

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

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,236,101 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,548,228,000 after buying an additional 1,027,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,115,836,000. 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.