[Reuters] – U.S. health regulators said on Tuesday they approved a stent by Abbott Laboratories that is the first designed to be absorbed into the bloodstream after it is implanted. The stent, called Absorb, is made … Read more on this. Abbott Laboratories (ABT) , with a current value of $57.72B, opened this morning at $39.31. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $39.21 to $39.50 with a trailing 52-week range being $36.00 to $51.74. Abbott Labs (ABT) shares are currently priced at 17.97x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 0.52x earnings multiple for the same period. The company pays shareholders $1.04 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.63%. According to a consensus of 19 analysts, the earnings estimate of $0.53 per share would be $0.01 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.20 is a $0.05 improvement when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $5.24 Billion. If realized, that would be a 1.35% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Edward Jones upgraded ABT from Hold to Buy (Jun 21, 2016). Previously, Morgan Stanley downgraded ABT from Overweight to Equal-Weight. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $46.60, which is 18.54% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:ABT) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – FDA advisers to weigh risks of Abbott’s dissolving stent Company Update (NYSE:ABT): Abbott Receives Approval in Australia for FreeStyle® Libre–the Revolutionary Glucose Monitoring System for People with Diabetes Market Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – Abbott Labs to buy diagnostics company Alere for $5.8 bln