Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

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

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $105.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.57. The company has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ABT shares. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.31.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,444,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock valued at $6,451,298 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $131,000. United Bank lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 27,280 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 813,253 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $96,257,000 after acquiring an additional 15,521 shares during the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.3% in the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 636.2% in the first quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.