Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Issues Earnings Results

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $117.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $204.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $91.25 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.40.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.46.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.