Abbott Laboratories Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ABT)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 92,955 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 948% compared to the average daily volume of 8,870 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $23,502,644,000 after buying an additional 2,977,715 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $10,656,964,000 after buying an additional 689,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 61,614,739 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,251,974,000 after buying an additional 1,478,076 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,184,589,000 after buying an additional 1,390,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $3,026,180,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $147.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $162.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.68.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE:ABT traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $124.90. The stock had a trading volume of 7,187,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,896,229. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $110.86 and a 12 month high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.17.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 31.88%.The company had revenue of $11.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.57%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.