A number of analysts and hedge funds are maintaining or increasing their estimation of health care titan Abbott Labs.For example,Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its buy on the stock on 19 March;BTIG Research reaffirmed its buy rating on 26 April;Credit Suisse reaffirmed on 17 April;Wells Fargo reaffirmed on 28 April,as did Jefferies Group.Overall,there were six holds and 18 buys on the stock,as well as one strong buy.*
Among the hedge funds,Neuberger Berman increased its Abbott holdings by 9.7% in Q4;DNB Asset Management hiked its Abbott holdings by 69.7%;and Cambiar Investors LLC raised its stake in Abbott by 4.6% in Q4.*
Abbott Labs was founded in 1888 by physician and drug store owner Wallace C. Abbott (People's Drug Store,Chicago),who eventually began manufacturing drugs himself.Today it employs about 73,000 in more than 150 countries.Its four operating segments and some of their products are Nutrition (Similac,Ensure,Glucerna,PediaSure);Medical Devices (glucose monitoring and laser vision-correction technologies);Diagnostics (immunoassay diagnostics,blood screening,bedside testing and companion diagnostics);and Pharmaceuticals (branded generic medications for pervasive and persistent health conditions outside the US only).*
Abbott Labs recently acquired medical device maker St.Jude Medical for 25 billion dollars-its largest ever acquisition-on the desire to gain bargaining power with hospitals.The company paid a 2.67% dividend as of Friday.It scored a double beat on Q1 earnings.Earnings per share were 0.41 versus an estimate of 0.39;revenue was 4.9 billion dollars versus the 4.77 billion estimate. *
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
No comments:
Post a Comment