UPDATE: Jefferies & Company Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Abbott Laboratories

In a report published Wednesday, Jefferies & Company reiterated its Buy rating on Abbott Laboratories

, and raised its price target from $75.00 to $85.00. Jefferies noted, “We have carved out AbbVie within our Abbott model as a separate entity, enabling us to more precisely hone our earnings, dividend and valuation estimates on a sum of the parts basis. We now value AbbVie at $55 per share with the remaining Abbott business (DMP) valued at $30 per share, making our new PT $85. Abbott remains our top pick through 2012 and we see a strong set of newsflow and valuation drivers over the next 6 months.” Abbott Laboratories closed on Tuesday at $68.91.