Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE ABT opened at $105.27 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $114.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.57. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet raised Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Raymond James boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,924,000 after buying an additional 2,235,314 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,299,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,573,920,000 after buying an additional 1,873,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.