Abbott Laboratories Sees Large Increase in Short Interest
Abbott Laboratories was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,700,000 shares, an increase of 20.4% from the January 15th total of 10,550,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.
Abbott last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.84% and a net margin of 14.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.
Several analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $112.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday.
Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th.